Suffolk Colt

I bought this Lawnmower from a guy in Nottingham.

This particular piece belonged to his brother, his brother bought it brand new in the 50's he used and maintained it on a regular basis right up until he passed away in early 2009.

When the mower came into my possession it had been stored away for a while and was not working. The first thing I did was to to start taking it apart and cleaning it, with the intention of getting it back to full working order. I was fascinated by the previous owners adaptions to the mower, it was no longer just a mower it had become his pride and joy, adapted specifically for this person it had become more than the soulless functional product of it intention. It had become an object this person had grown to rely on it had gained more than materialistic status.

It had many war wounds but these scars define specific moments and events in time and they cement deep relationships with their owners. Something built to last can change owners many times. Reliable, strong and dependable objects carry within their construct stories of emotion, adventure, happiness and neglect.
I can only guess by looking at these scars and dents but these stories remain untold and held secret by these mute partners.

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more to come...

Fire Escape

I was invited to show a piece of work at an exhibition with the title "Notions of Paradise"

I had a few initial ideas but nothing that excited me.

That was until I saw these!!!

Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of them in their original state. They where the Fire escape stairs for the flats above a launderette.

The launderette and flats had been demolished and all that remained were these stairs. 

Stairs that led to nowhere! 

That were black, corroded/rusty and covered in moss I asked the builders if i could have them and was told if I could move them by the end of the day then they were mine.

The stairs in my studio.

What I liked about them was the fact that they were intended to only be used to go one way...down! as they were a fire exit route from the first floor.

Chrome Bench Vice

This followed on from the recliner chair mechanics, I was looking at value and function and what happens if you challenge the fixed status assigned to objects within society. 

Although the vice is still fully functional, it has become a useless tool because of its now pristine  decorative appearance. The primary quality is its appeal and it look instead of the Job that it was designed to perform. making it full fill emotion, phycological needs or desires.

It is now an object that looks as if it has a function but is no longer for anyones use. It cannot fit into our ordered world of objects that have a place and purpose.

One Mans Trash Is Another Mans Treasure!

Meanwhile behind the facade of this innocent looking recliner chair.....

I found this chair in the street, it was a bit battered but in perfect working order. 

At the time I was living in Brixton and was intrigued by the exchange of furniture from home to home.  For example, I saw an abandoned  desk in the street that was better than the one I had in my room, so I took it and left mine in its place. 

The next day my old desk had gone and this recliner chair and a side table were in its place.

I took the chair but left nothing in its place, this got me thinking about the notions of value. 

Unwanted furniture is always dumped in the street or skip, these were once proud possessions of the owner/family that housed them.

The moment the object has no further use or value (for what ever reason) it gets abandoned.

Each object has a unique character that can be realised or combined with another object to create a new identity that carries the genes of the original. 

Once I had the chair back at my studio I started to deconstruct it...

About 6 hours and 5000 staples later I was left with the skeleton of the chair

Thats when I realised the engineering that had gone into the mechanics of the chair,

this is something I had never even considered.

With the mechanics I wanted to take them as far away from their intended use as possible and re-evaluate the perception of furniture and how it is defined.

When does something really loose its value and become obsolete?

Real work

Umm....Basically I didn't really know what I was doing, I just wanted to cut a bike in half!

This is what I submitted for the first year show.

I got the bike from Westminster Council, it had been abandoned because someone had vandalised it and it was no longer ridable. (It had a buckled wheel!)

After the show was taken down I needed to do something with it, so...

I thought I would complete the cycle and return it to the street and see what happened.

The bike actually stayed there for about a week but the parts slowly disappeared as passers by took souvenirs. I'd like to think I helped people get their own bikes back on the road but who knows who took what parts and where they went.

Today I cut a bike in half!