Experimenting With Sculptural Work.

This week I have begun to explore three dimensional work incorporating my rock rubbings. I began by wrapping real rocks collected from Gylly beach in calico fabric that I had covered in rock rubbings, creating a sort of irony in that I was effectively covering rocks in rocks, in a similar way to how I painted on rocks using paint made from rock.

In order to give these works context I placed them back into the natural landscape from which I sourced the rocks: Gylly beach. I photographed these pieces amongst regular rocks to combine the natural with the artificial and to immerse my work more fully within the natural environment and to explore how they would be displayed in an exhibition or gallery setting – likely through photographs.

This method of working was almost performative in both its temporality and the physical act of myself going out into the landscape, arranging my works amongst nature, photographing the outcome and then removing all traces that this event ever happened. Though the ephemeral nature of working in such a way attracts me, I also plan to generate some slightly longer term installations where I will arrange a selection of ‘rocks’ in a natural setting and leave them for a few days, so that they have the potential to be seen by the public, before collecting them back up, noting any changes in arrangement, the actual works themselves or whether any have been removed altogether. A slightly alternative idea is to go on a walk and leave a trail of ‘rocks’, then retrace my steps another day to collect them. Despite being visible to the public, my works may not be recognised as pieces of art or may perhaps even be mistaken for real rocks, which ties my work to that of Richard Long who leaves subtle sculptural pieces in rural landscapes, giving them the potential to be seen or to go unnoticed by the public. An example of his work is shown below.

A Line in the Himalayas. (1975). [Digital print on paper mounted onto aluminium] London: Tate.

To develop on from the idea of disguising rocks as rocks by wrapping them in rubbings I created some similar works, however the ‘rock’ beneath the fabric in these pieces is actually made from scrunched newspaper. This plays with the idea of deception, creating something that on the outside looks almost like a real rock or like my rocks covered in fabric, however when inspected more closely (or picked up) is clearly not a rock; the weight of these newspaper rocks being the surprise to viewers who expected them to carry the mass of a real rock.