Developing Ideas (20/04/2014)

On my return from the holidays I was looking for a starting point to reactivate my practice following my indecision over how to develop the project. I decided to focus on the scale of my sellotape 'cells', and have spent several days building it up in a large interlocking structure. I always really enjoy challenging myself in this way; it is a very repetitive process but watching the 'material' grow is really satisfying. I started to set myself targets, taking records of the time it took me to produce each cell and competing against myself. I also used a tally chart of the cells I had made as a motivator and set myself a minimum number to do in a day. I had no ultimate goal, deciding to work on it until I decided what I should do next.

It was fascinating to observe how the structure changes as it expands and has more weight. One thing I am really drawn to about the result of my making is the way it moves, it folds over in layers in a really fluid manner as if an underwater plant.

 

I also really love the way the structure takes in sunlight, catching and reflecting the light within the cells. This started to make me think about how it takes in the environment; not only how things stick to it physically because of the adhesive material, but how it captures the available light and seems to hold it in the cells, again like a plant or living creature collecting nutrients from its surroundings.

 

 

 

The process of making this piece was intense as I worked on it all day in the studio and took it home with me. This also enabled me to view it in different environments, against the white of the studio, in the sunlight as I carried it home and in a domestic setting. I photographed the work in our living room and observed how it took on quite a sinister feel, juxtaposed with familiar household furniture. In our house we have a lot of damp and mold and I found myself viewing it with this information in mind, thinking of it as a growth, a bacteria, something negative and harmful.

 

 

I would love to be able to do a stop-motion animation of the structure slithering over the sofas. I feel these shots together illustrate the way it moves quite well because of how it curves over the arm with ease.

 

 Yesterday I had an opportunity to use a projector so I experimented briefly with making shadows with the sellotape cells and trialing the transparency of the material. The structure looked really, really beautiful with such direct light and produced some very interesting shadows, which varied in focus on the different heights of the cells. It might be interesting to take this further and consider how light could be used for an installation.