Continuing with my previous themes and expanding on new methods of casting has led me towards a more defined practice. My current work questions the materiality and relationship between humans and the natural world. Working with themes of environmental change and through the use of man-made materials my sculptures create a false sense of landscape, questioning our impact and relationship with nature in the current climate. The title “Set in stone?” illustrates these themes and questions the viewer’s position.
Paper, as an overused synthetic material, is familiar in all its forms, however, here I am drawing attention to the disused and discarded, the wasted, in a grounding and solid object. As an everyday material it is easy to overlook its abilities to hold and convey the smallest of information, whether through writing on the surface or using its materiality to shape an object, in the case of origami. To crush paper is to fill every inch of it with that moment’s information. This almost natural crush or crinkle is so often seen in a range of materials as a defect labelling it as rubbish to discard. The natural shape unworthy of use.
The introduction of colour into my work has allowed it to move away from the initial association with the blank sheet of paper that it reflects, and bring a new perspective to the work. It is then that the work will stand alone. Blue lakes and movement of water began this change, but ultimately the idea of the lack of water drove my decision for the colouring of “Set in stone?”. Sandy yellow, a representation of dryness, dunes, dust, and sandstone. It takes on other connotations too, the surface of a foreign moon or planet, otherworldly landscapes formed in the mind.
The edge; something a landscape shouldn’t have. Dropping away harshly into seeming nothingness. This effect deepens the weight and tome-like nature of the piece; like the Rosetta Stone baring coded information it presents a mystery and a challenge. Within this natural code forms come; geometrical shapes, triangles for instance, that appear as they do in crystals from an outside force. Here the force was a peer who I handed the paper to, taking some of the authorship away from me. This, to emphasise chaos and unpredictability in the process.
Gwyneth Machin 