neon + vinyl

one of the highlights of the year has been my involvement in the neon + vinyl exhibition, plus art projects' alternative frieze show in october. curated by kerry ryan (neonist), declan mcmullan (artist) and jessica temple the exhibition showcased a wide range of creative talent working with media traditionally associated with street level advertising and industrial processes. it was incredible to have my work shown alongside new works by tracey emin, sarah lucas, gavin turk and franko b amongst others.

and of course the frieze week party was uber cool, with live music and an impromptu dj-ing spot by gavin turk we were dancing until the wee small hours.

photography: rory gardiner and david thompson

image 1: (left to right) stik - lovers. amanda eliasch - self portrait. sarah blood - object specific.

image 2: (l-r) peter lamb & paul hosking - although rare, they do exist. dingbot mclatchley - centre of the universe. sarah blood - object specific. gavin turk - the observing eye.

image 3: (l-r) john close - allonge. tim bromage - cheshire cat. stik - lovers. sarah blood - object specific

image 4: (l-r) 100% beefcock and the titbusters, morag myerscough - the king
image 5:  the frieze week party

image 6: kerry ryan - warning. 

#ldf '11 part two

the second exhibition at london design week was lux craft at origin. i was very excited to have been one of ten artists who work with light selected from 280 applicants to exhibit at lux craft.

the piece i created for the exhibition was an extension of light matter an installation i made earlier in the year. admittedly with hind site it may have been a little ambitions given the tight installation schedule, but i've never been one to be content with an easy life. the piece, white on white, was to be two sections of white neon, intersecting 10 suspended porcelain spheres. the two sections loosely entwining as they descend from above as if dancing. setting my goals just higher than i should usually serves me well (if you don't count the sleepless nights) but on this occasion the combination of ambitious new work, complicated hanging system, rushed install all amounted to breaking one of the sections of the piece.

these things happen. when you work with a fragile material such as glass and neon, you have to develop a pragmatic approach to breakages... and make plenty of spares. on this occasion though, i could have done with spares for my spares.

through my work i am interested in combining the seemingly fragile with the seemingly robust to question the definition of strength and permanence. it can sometimes walk a fine line between working and not. it's great when it does work, but when it doesn't you just have to learn from it and keep going. white on white was certainly a steep learning curve and i think i've just about ironed out the glitches, so that next time it's perfect.