Perplexed was the first in a series of works attempting to confront viewers with the present reality of their eyes. The work consisted of five large rectangular cubes of industrial construction, each measuring 1.5m x 1m x 1m. The pieces were fabricated to my specifications at a factory that produces air conditioning ducting, condensing units and similar industrial parts. The materials used in the cubes are galvanised steel, synthetic fibre insulation, metal foil and pop rivets. The underlying galvanised box provides a rigid structure which is covered with a 20cm layer of insulation. This soft/hard box is then covered in a 5mm metal foil, sealed invisibly at the joins with a tape of similar material, then pop-riveted to the underlying structure.
The finished objects have the industrial appearance of things one might have seen somewhere before – quick glance, file under ‘industrial stuff’, move on – but on further consideration they cannot be easily placed. One notices the silvered sarking of the gallery’s warehouse roof, and wonders if the cubes are somehow part of the gallery itself, utility items waiting to be installed or recently taken down for repair. For an instant the viewer pauses, a tiny moment of confusion is experienced. Our unquestioned confidence in our power of perception evaporates and one stands before an everyday object which must be understood all over again.
Now the viewer is free to discover the qualities of these objects: the monolithic scale and shiny metallic surface that suggests weight and firmness; the pin-cushion quilting that suggests softness. At around this point, the viewer will approach one of the cubes and touch it, confirm that it is both hard and soft, that it gives under pressure. A little more pressure reveals it is truly heavy and has a solid, rigid core, yet incongruously that softness of the exterior remains. Perhaps it is some kind of over-scaled designer ottoman.
The scale of the work is critical to its effectiveness. The cubes have a palpable presence within the volume of the space, reflecting light, casting shadows, absorbing sound, and presenting obstacles to movement within the gallery. Repetition, too, is central to the work, because repetition invites the viewer to see the cubes as belonging to a ‘class’ and it is this aspect of perception concerned with the classification of objects that the work most specifically explores.
katie louise williams 