Title: ‘Teasing You Between Two Points’
Materials: Plywood, Timber, Glue, Screws
This work is an exploration into the function of ramps. It is made following the local Melbourne council’s parameters for a legal incline, width, length and height; in this way it functions partly as a usable object to be interacted with and that provides legitimate support. In another way however, it is installed in the space so as to confuse the viewer. The ramp is situated so that at its highest point it directs you back towards the door, but there is a large gap between the end of the ramp and the exit. This delineating of movement into the room, up the ramp, back around, and out of the room becomes a spatial drawing that strips the ramp of its function. The work asks the viewer to question their assumptions around the way they interact with objects and architecture, and behaves as a psychological metaphor about different levels of access both experienced spatially and in a broader socio-political sense.
Materials: Plywood, Timber, Glue, Screws
This work is an exploration into the function of ramps. It is made following the local Melbourne council’s parameters for a legal incline, width, length and height; in this way it functions partly as a usable object to be interacted with and that provides legitimate support. In another way however, it is installed in the space so as to confuse the viewer. The ramp is situated so that at its highest point it directs you back towards the door, but there is a large gap between the end of the ramp and the exit. This delineating of movement into the room, up the ramp, back around, and out of the room becomes a spatial drawing that strips the ramp of its function. The work asks the viewer to question their assumptions around the way they interact with objects and architecture, and behaves as a psychological metaphor about different levels of access both experienced spatially and in a broader socio-political sense.
Title: ‘Gravity And Messy Mass’
Materials: Plywood, Timber, Unfired Stoneware
‘Gravity And Messy Mass’ is a small part of a larger investigation into ramps and other architectural objects that give support. This piece is one of the few models and material constructs I completed while I was planning and outsourcing the production of a bigger work. It behaves as a way of proposing a larger material investigation, working through ideas prevalent in a bigger project in the absence of that work. It was a way for me to work through the logistics of the following ideas in real space; mass, volume, gravity, the vertical and the horizontal plane, and the balance between the artist’s hand and readymade industrial materials. The work allowed me to make conceptual and material decisions in a ‘workshop’ style process that runs parallel to the fabrication of larger works in order to continue my studio-based practice and push the idea forward.
Title: 'Tripping You Up And Catching You'
Material: Stainless Steel Handrails (attached to the floor)
This work explores the function of support structures inside the home. I wanted to shift this functional object into something hazardous and humorous. Objects that exist as a part of aided-living have been designed and calculated to be exactly where they need to be; I wanted to explore this in an art context, what it means for the handrails to be on the floor behaving as art objects. What happens to these structures when their supportive function is removed? I used these found objects as a way of making a kind of 3-dimensional drawing on the floor, a drawing that reflects light and is performed by the reflection of the viewer. The work attempts to comment on the irony of 'offered' support that is made redundant. For me, its a narrative that mirrors the struggle of the non able-bodied in an able-bodied society, and draws on personal experiences jumping through hoops with the introduction of Australia's National Disability Insurance Scheme, and the hardship that presents under the guise of 'support'.
Materials: Ink and Pen on Paper
'Site Office' is a drawing that was completed as a way of proposing a large scale installation work. The piece functions as a way of creating a visual language that mimics my sculptural works on a 2-dimensional surface. It came about through the struggle of working site specific without access to work or site. I began to draw as a means of understanding proposed objects in space and seeing how they behave alongside each other. Pictured is a wall unit and a ramp with a handrail; both of these subjects are derived from the paraphernalia of architectural design and construction sites. The drawing was done as a commission for the 2018 RMIT ESP Auction, I needed to donate a piece of work that behaved more commercially and thus the idea came to fruition on paper as opposed to in 3-dimensional space.
