MEDICI GALLERY until Dec 9th
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| Frances Bloomfield, Espinoi 95x28.5x10cms, (c) artist |
There
are no fixed meanings in Dreamboxes – they are intended to provide a
glimpse of a narrative with which the viewer can play. Nor
do I have a way of conveying the beauty of these three-dimensional
artworks - but perhaps that's a distraction the viewer can do without initially, because It
leads one to wonder how human hands can make something which is so
delicate and so robust.
Espinoi ('spinney' in French) is one of an ongoing series, formerly called Trees.
Frances Bloomfield writes " They explore the idea of Waldeinsamkeit, the German word for the
feeling of being alone in the woods. However nothing is really as it
appears - the 'trees' are actually images taken from seaweed and they
aren't planted in the ground - they float - and this is a big part of
what I explore in all my work". ( I happened to come to the Medici
Gallery to see Frances' work straight from the Royal Academy, which is
just round the corner, so Alselm Keifer's extraordinary mammoth rootless trees were fresh in my mind).
The artist makes all aspects of the work, the outside of the box being papered with French geometry or maths books.The 'trees' are cut from
mount board with French maths books pasted onto them. The little
figure is an architectural model. Maths suggests an order and a rational explanation of the
world which contradicts the work in the box. The artist draws on some of R.D.Laing's
ideas - and the work of social anthropologists - about what is 'normal'
and how 'normality' is itself a social construct rather than anything
fixed.
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| Frances Bloomfield, Mi-Dialogue 4, 34x53x9cms., (c) artist |
Mi-Dialogue
Domestique 4 is part of another series in which 'the artist explores order and chaos in ‘domestique’ settings. "The media is full
of ideas and
information on the ‘perfect home’…but the home is also the setting for
emotional and often disturbing scenarios. The contrast between what is
desired or presented and what may really be going on can at times be
quite extreme". The image is printed on French geometry books written in script. The artist again: "I liked the idea of maths being written in script - it already
suggests a contradiction".
The series was initially going to be called ‘Falling’, a sensation some experience in dreams or as a gripping fear in daily life, which prevents them from going up the Shard or the London Eye - or even profiting from cheap theatre tickets in the balcony. The artist comments "it is thought that amongst other things it is an indicator of a return of early fears and traumas, which have been pushed away in adult life".
The series was initially going to be called ‘Falling’, a sensation some experience in dreams or as a gripping fear in daily life, which prevents them from going up the Shard or the London Eye - or even profiting from cheap theatre tickets in the balcony. The artist comments "it is thought that amongst other things it is an indicator of a return of early fears and traumas, which have been pushed away in adult life".
That
solitary empty chair is a magnet to our eyes. It's the chair we walk
towards for a job interview or a hospital diagnosis; it may remind us of
an absence, or an offer of hospitality and comfort to the weary. "It stands as a sort of proxy for a
person. It simultaneously creates presence and absence".
www.medicigallery.co.uk/
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