The ‘Useful Bench’ came out of a plan to work together on modelling the same clay sculpture. To facilitate this they designed a long bench at which they could each take it in turns to model and sculpt. Each artist had approximately 20 minutes in which to work before the clay form was conveyed by a pulley device to the other end of the bench.
As they were each in turn faced with the already partly modelled form they were compelled to completely alter and deface the work until it was unrecognisable. Inevitably they could not agree upon when to finish it.
The wall piece entitled ‘Useful Bench’ attempts to record this process. At timed intervals a plasticene form travels along the shelf in front of a projected image of the artists sat at the bench.
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[ Photo: David Gilliland ] - [ Click image to enlarge ]
[ Click image to enlarge ]
[ Click image to enlarge ] THE USEFUL BENCH
, 2002, 35mm slide, slide projector, projector stand, wood, steel, motor, 110cm x 45cm x 220cm
