|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||
|
ANDREW MCDOUGAL
The Conjunction series documents the refuse that my negihbours in St Kilda discarded into our laneway over a week, in the Spring of 2003 - lounge suites, cartons and milk crates. There is nothing extraordinary, or ironic about the discards. There are no hidden treasures, no shop dummies, or TV’s to be salvaged. The aesthetic is in the alignment of the components, not the objects themselves. As in the Distillation series, I experimented with everyday objects and light to create harmonious associations. In the Conjunction series I used morning light, as opposed to the artifical light of lightboxes to infuse the objects with spirit. The Conjunction images are literal descriptions of reality, not conceptual metaphors. There is no search for Plato’s Cave here; rather there is an attempt to record how the objects seem to join or reunite themselves into their natural affinities. Like the human’s beings that discarded the objects, the discards are in transition too. The objects are moving from a utilitarian state: redeployed by some Junkie in a garret, or recycled in a landfill. The scene changes daily and the objects have little time to settle into their environment. Nonetheless, the objects do find a niche - wrapped around telephone poles, or resting against graffitied walls. As in any installation, the placement within the environment is integral to the work. On the street in the morning light there is a sense of transience, like people at an airport waiting to board a plane. The objects freed of their original environment take on a spirit of independence, if only for the hours that they await removal from the street. On the pavement, an exhausted carpet sweeper appears to have dragged itself onto a sofa. The narrative is in the moment - not the event that preceded the placement or the fate that awaits. Above all the images remind us that nothing ever remains the same – we live in an impermanent world. 1. Carpet Sweeper 2. Plate and Pole 3. Bins and Boxes 4. Paint Pots and Palettes 5. Hurricane Gates 6. Cuttings 7. Milk Crates 8. Cartons and Pole 9. Sofa and Carpet Sweeper |
|||
|
::::::::---- top |
