Monstrous Beings

During recent times, my home has become my main studio space and this has meant my home has become overwhelmed with art projects and sculptures. The many soft sculpture squares from my interim show piece 'Delve' (2021) are stuffed into the spare room of my house, they have become somewhat annoying and, as my tutor described, it has turned into room 101. I wanted to use this experience as an opportunity explore this idea further about object agency and the work less as passive sculpture but beings that take over the space. I began by collection all of the rings together and picking different locations in my house where I would try to stuff as many sculptures as I could into the space. I used a large understairs cupboard, the stairs, bath and my car. I really like that, although I was placing the sculptures, I felt as though I was collaborating with the pink and yellow squares as ultimately they would fall or squish in whatever direction they want. They twisted and fitted through the banister of the stairs and seeped out of the cupboard like a monstrous being. I used low camera angles to connote that the shapes had power, some kind of authority over the space.

I think that the use of the home as a setting made the work more visually interesting as well as relatable for the viewer. Of course the white cube provides a blank surface which is beneficial when displaying work, however, it is devoid to some extent of the outside world and by exhibiting my sculptures in and around the home gives the shapes more agency as they are 'invading' a home rather than a space intended for displayed art. I didn't want to distract the viewer to these images by using more furnished or cluttered areas of the house and perhaps this is from doing art for several years that I want the clearest white cube space I can make within the given location. Maybe if I had of made these photos with other objects in the frame it would have felt more natural, a lived in home as opposed to a blank canvas. But, on the other hand, too many elements in the photographs may have shifted attention from the 'invasion'. In future works and projects, I won't shy away from using my house or other spaces with pre-existing contexts as both object and setting can work together to make an entirely new dynamic.

'Invasion' (2021)

I've really enjoyed the fact that these sculptures are not a gentle or passively playful as what maybe originally perceived of these pastel pink and yellow soft squares, that they've evolved into something menacing, albeit in a humorous almost kitchy way. The squares are not just object but could reflect this idea of the otherworldliness infiltrating it's way through the space. I wanted to play on this idea further, explore the next stage of this sculpture invasion. I use the term 'sculpture' lightly as perhaps now they are passed being curational objects. I've explore the idea of location but I wanted to relate it back to the idea of the space and relationship between the participant and object, the body and material.

I began by setting up the squares into a pyramid in my living room and started to interact with the squares and I had someone to photograph and document different stages of the process - firstly, by jumping in (perhaps this is the curiosity stage) my legs often entangled in the air as if being dragged into what looked like a really odd looking portal or simply a stack of squished cushions. Secondly, using one arm and leg at a time I peered out into the exterior space which could suggest trying to come to terms with a new environment (exploration stage). Finally, it then became about escape as I tried to exit the tower dismantles and toppled over me and I begin to explore again! It is interesting to note, that I wasn't acting through this or saw it as a performance, that it became my way of exploring the sculpture and, in fact, it wasn't that 'friendly'. The sculpture is heavy, oversized and at most times it did feel overwhelming like I was being consumed. I was as if the work was no longer participant lead but directed by the shapes themselves.

Like the previous experiment, I used the space fo the home to 'stage' these exploration of object agency. I did not originally want to make the space feel to clean or devoid of any other context, however, I felt the pyramid didn't have as much impact as the experience of the interaction. I began playing round with using virtual background, one was a white cube space but this felt to clinical. I had several background that I had made for my clay animation and these had the otherworldly quality I was imagining. Cutting out each of the 24 images out I added in a series of clay backgrounds altering from each image, this was surprisingly visually interesting and it made it feel as though this interaction was taking place in a virtual space beyond the safety of the white cube or the context of home. What I've learnt with these experiments is to not take my practice too seriously, that the work can have humor and not be necessarily as polished as a white cube installation but still have impact and reflect my research and developing artistic practice.

FULL VIDEO - https://lucywinnicott.wixsite.com/artwork/consumption