The Habit of Art
Making work in a studio is awkward,
Trying to explain work is awkward,
I am trying to break out of the studio,
Only to be sucked back in.
The sculptures are enlarged abstractions of the face. I am re-inventing the physically real into the nonsensically unfamiliar and irrelevant ‘something’ using a disjointed combination of dialogue. The video is broken up with images of ‘studio work’, but it doesn’t break the flow of inquisitive, and sometimes, urgent speech…
The combination of humorously banal, unidentifiable objects alongside the scripted speech resonates with the anxiety of talking about work, and the unease experienced in presenting oneself as an artist.
‘Speech leaves no mark in space; like gesture, it exists in its immediate context and can reappear only in another’s voice, another’s body… but writing contaminates; writing leaves it’s trace… thus, while speech gains authenticity, writing promises immortality’ – Susan Stewart
