My next focus was making space and here are some of the intermediary pieces that bridged my thinking between object and space. I started this by weaving string between sections of one of my objects, this made the structure feel more solid and highlighted the planes of space between the wood.
I continued making drawings and trying to imagine a space where my objects or creations would eventually be, this is where some of the larger forms and new ideas started from.
I then extrapolated this weaving process into objects I made with wood, metal and found objects, such as the freezer drawer in the image above. Reflecting on this practice I can see I was trying to fill the space, and sort of turning these grids and grates into woven walls, playing with flexible and inflexible materials.
After looking at the work of Dan Flavin I decided I wanted to incorporate light to manipulate the space and also use it to create new spaces. I did this in minor ways trying to create a more subtle lighting effect rather than Flavin’s mostly vibrant/high contrast pieces; this was still effective but I feel but can be developed further.
I also wanted to incorporate light to enable shadows to come into the composition as well since abstract lighting cannot always be understood a shadow is a familiar form, my hope was that by playing with lighting in a subtle way the installation would have an unsettled feeling.
Many of the smaller forms I made represent figures now I look at them, although at the time I was not thinking of people at all and wanted to stay away from recognisable figurative imagery. However, the fact that these references came out autonomously with random combinations of angles and lengths gives the forms another relationship to human nature, not just the figurative form.
These smaller ‘people’ like forms also create this sense of anxiety from the way they are twisted and contorted. They do not seem comfortable in their environment or in themselves; emphasised by the bindings of string and wire they are covered with.
Initially I thought this collection/installation was purely an autonomous exploration of space but now on reflection I can see the edges of an expression that communicates frustration and a sense of confused order, or organised disorder. This relates strongly to the pandemic and current limitations and restrictions and is interesting to see that even when consciously avoiding a topic like Covid-19 it is still represented in my work.