Camberwell MA Fine Art Degree Show

'Without beginning nor end (Leon)'

'Constructions; both social and other' (series)

Almost final

Now that the work is securely up on the wall (fingers crossed), I am starting to play around with the positioning of the floor based works. Seeing how they fit in visually with the background image and also present a visual dialogue with one another. I am happy that i chose to leave the triangular piece without any sort of framing to disturb the image as i feel the other two have successfully done this on their own and it would be quite visually overwhelming with all three the same. I am trying to organise the objects using their height to create almost a pathway for the viewers eye, leading them up to the wall work and also still enabling some space around the objects for people to physically encounter.  

These installation shots are close to my final arrangement for this work. 

Configuration 2

Hanging dilema

Once the decision had been made to have the main piece up on the wall, getting it to stay up was a bit of a nightmare. In the past i had used velcro for most foam based works, however this wouldn't be strong enough this time due to the sheer weightiness of the two pieces. Glueing it directly onto the wall would be a little too strong that it would probably never come off, plus you would need a team of people to hold it for some time whilst it dried, and so this wasn't an option either. In the end James - my helper, and i decided to try something new. We tested out sticking a wooden batten to a scrap bit of foam using a very strong adhesive specially recommended for fabrics. Surprisingly this worked extremely well and we couldn't even come close to getting the wood off of the test piece. I then cut up two pieces of mdf and glued them to the backs of each foam piece. Using strong strips of velcro, i attached these to the backs of the mdf battens and then put the two main pieces up on the wall, pressing down firmly and praying this would work. Unfortunately, by the next morning, i came into college to discover one of the two had fallen down. Damn. So onto the next attempt. I went to the hardware store down in Camberwell Green and asked the advice of the shop owner. He recommended scrapping the use of velcro altogether and attaching hooks to the back of the battens which could then hook onto a nail up on the wall, so they would literally be just hanging. I'm not the best person when it comes to DIY but with the help of James and his accurate measurements, we managed to get the fallen foam piece back onto the wall via this method. When it came to taking the other piece off of the wall to do the same, it didn't want to come off, even with a lot of pressure. And so James and I decided that it would probably be best to leave this one how it was, as it seemed pretty secure. I was really pleased with how the piece as a whole now looked up high on the wall. I felt its monumentality had successfully been achieved. Although me initial idea was to have the work slouched down partly onto the floor to emphasise its materiality, there was just not the space for this alongside the floor based objects. However, with it hanging on the wall, if viewed from the side, you are able to see that the material curves slightly at the bottom and flicks out. With this physical attribute, i think it enables the viewer to still identify the piece as an 'object' which is what i wanted, as opposed to being completely flat against the wall. This for me would be too pictorial and resemble purely a photograph or a painting, not a sculptural object. 

Configuration 1

Trial and error

Construction (3)