with Stephen Iles
One of my earliest collaborations, Stephen Iles and I worked together on my first attempts to investigate the introduction of the body and its movements into the paintings I was making.
Our first work ‘Static’ was created over a period of weeks at Artwork Atelier (an artist’s studio collective in Manchester which no longer exists) where we worked with a set of painted objects inspired by various images of the sea from paintings, sculptures and textiles. Eventually we found a system of filming from a single cropped viewpoint, low to the ground, lit only by daylight from the large skylight on the studio’s ceiling. I arranged and rearranged the collection of water inspired objects, following the daylight from above as it moved across the gallery floor. I focused on maintaining a balanced painted installation in the round whilst the camera recorded a flat painted image from one perspective. The mediated experience presented in the videos we captured become both less and more than what was in the room.
Our second project together, again captured at Artwork Atelier, was ‘The Best General View’. The starting point for this work was the 19th Century practice of displaying panels at places of outstanding natural beauty to show visitors where they should stand to get the ‘best general view' of the site. Linked with ideas of the sublime, it is an approach which has echoes in the history of painting and photography.
The work sees me moving a set of painted material which references landscape painting, 70s minimalist sculpture and the industrial aesthetic which came to be adopted by club culture in the late 80s and early 90s at Manchester venues such as the Hacienda and Sankeys Soap. Searching for a best general view which cannot be found, the work refuses to settle or resolve itself in spite of my efforts. The materials for this work, as with all of my future projects, come from waste materials from various Manchester galleries including any wood and paint used in the work’s construction. At the end of each project the materials are dismantled and reused as part of the next project.
The final project Stephen and I worked on together was called ‘Floorwork’ and investigated the ways in which gallery spaces use aspects of their layout to tell the viewer how to look at and think about the work they display. Starting its life as a static sculptural installation, shown at Rogue studios, Manchester, I decided to experiment with the same restless approach I had applied to our previous collaborative works. Across two different galleries I used the elements to construct a set of shifting structures which obstructed access to the space in different ways, whilst Steve recorded what was happening. This work was the first video work where I decided to work on top of the original recordings with further digital elements which extend the idea of a shifting painting which refuses to settle or allow itself to be resolved.
Our first work ‘Static’ was created over a period of weeks at Artwork Atelier (an artist’s studio collective in Manchester which no longer exists) where we worked with a set of painted objects inspired by various images of the sea from paintings, sculptures and textiles. Eventually we found a system of filming from a single cropped viewpoint, low to the ground, lit only by daylight from the large skylight on the studio’s ceiling. I arranged and rearranged the collection of water inspired objects, following the daylight from above as it moved across the gallery floor. I focused on maintaining a balanced painted installation in the round whilst the camera recorded a flat painted image from one perspective. The mediated experience presented in the videos we captured become both less and more than what was in the room.
Our second project together, again captured at Artwork Atelier, was ‘The Best General View’. The starting point for this work was the 19th Century practice of displaying panels at places of outstanding natural beauty to show visitors where they should stand to get the ‘best general view' of the site. Linked with ideas of the sublime, it is an approach which has echoes in the history of painting and photography.
The work sees me moving a set of painted material which references landscape painting, 70s minimalist sculpture and the industrial aesthetic which came to be adopted by club culture in the late 80s and early 90s at Manchester venues such as the Hacienda and Sankeys Soap. Searching for a best general view which cannot be found, the work refuses to settle or resolve itself in spite of my efforts. The materials for this work, as with all of my future projects, come from waste materials from various Manchester galleries including any wood and paint used in the work’s construction. At the end of each project the materials are dismantled and reused as part of the next project.
The final project Stephen and I worked on together was called ‘Floorwork’ and investigated the ways in which gallery spaces use aspects of their layout to tell the viewer how to look at and think about the work they display. Starting its life as a static sculptural installation, shown at Rogue studios, Manchester, I decided to experiment with the same restless approach I had applied to our previous collaborative works. Across two different galleries I used the elements to construct a set of shifting structures which obstructed access to the space in different ways, whilst Steve recorded what was happening. This work was the first video work where I decided to work on top of the original recordings with further digital elements which extend the idea of a shifting painting which refuses to settle or allow itself to be resolved.