The initial concept came about by sheer chance, which of course, for me, is what makes it. Happenstance.
It happened during my Artist Residency at Tonbridge School back in the Autumn term, as I was clearing up after the boys had left the Gallery. Clearing the tables of tools and left-over and unused clay, and cleaning off the smears of clay on the table tops. One boy had started to roll out a large piece of clay directly on the table and had clearly run out of time at the end of the session, so had left it in-situ.
Having removed the majority of the clay with a cheese-wire, I scraped off the remaining thin layer of clay with one of the modelling tools, and found at the end of my tool a beautiful, delicate slither, so natural that it could only have been made by chance.
That was the beginning.
I have since been repeating that same gesture over and over, using different tools, and am gradually achieving increasingly intricate, delicate forms.
THE BEAUTY AND MAGIC OF HAPPENSTANCE.
I am now also looking at different ways of placing (displaying) these, which is an art in itself.
And, again, I'm finding inspiration in the Japanese aesthetic. It's about bringing together a number of similar, simple forms and different elements - the sculptural forms and the substrate/base - and consciously placing and grouping these to create a cohesive whole.
On a fired black clay base
A grouping, some on a base with clean-cut edges, others with torn edges, all of different thicknesses
On wooden bases - old sculpture bases and other bits of wood lying around in the studio (again, it's the happenstance that makes it) - randomly grouped, i.e. as yet unresolved
On newsprint - less successful perhaps, but shows beautiful detail; probably better of black tissue paper
Randomly placed; an interesting interaction between forms and stains/marks on the wooden board
And as in the previous post: a beautiful juxtaposition, created through happenstance
And an update on the latest Angular Form-Finding piece in the next post ...
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