Circumstances - 2013 - 2019

 

                                                                             

                                                                                  

                

Dimensions - ( H x W x D ) - 110 x 110 x 16 cm \ approx\

Medium – Clear resin, pigment , matches, shellac, wood.


My Irish culture has been hugely influenced and is a large part British , music, series, BBC, Top Of The Pops, I could go on and on. For example I recall very strongly the  black and white war movies of heroism and spitfires playing at home on the television. I called this piece ' Ophelia ' but I don't know. For me the spitfire is nothing less than poetic. 

A GESAMTKUNSTVERK  Gesamtkunstwerk | Definition of Gesamtkunstwerk by Merriam-Webster  where harmonious artistry in matter and belief fuse together .... or propaganda? 

I exhibited a smaller version of this piece at an exhibition in Germany and had a very different response to my own interpretation. Verbally attacked by a retired German engineer asking me why I put spitfires into pieces of work, they protected the bombers that dropped their loads on civilian cities. Two wrongs don't make a right I guess, never had that idiom made such sense. 



It's a moment in history where the 'right thing'  was clear and nobel acts and machines came together.It was also a golden era in British film leading onto - Kitchen sink dramas Kitchen-sink drama - Context - GCSE English Literature Revision - BBC Bitesize

I devour the pity and sadness of  British drama, I don't know why. I remember bringing a date home to my parents house to watch KES directed by Ken Loach a fantastic movie but a debacle of a date. 




The piece was initially one single block of clear cast resin which was completed for an art fair in Barcelona. After showing the piece a number of times I felt it was too 'heavy ' visually and I decided to go at it with a very large angle grinder. A difficult task performed in the patio of Tabacalera usually in the mornings before going off to teach in the afternoon.

a more detailed description of this can be found at Everyday is like Sunday - remade 2019 (kenlambert-artist.blogspot.com)


The sculpture was cast in an open mould in layers and the objects such as the petrified leaves and flowers were taken from a patch of wasteland close to where I leave after another long hot and dry summer. The reaction with the catalyst while casting resin is endothermic, this means that heat is produced. This makes the casting process more difficult because the moisture is drawn from the leaves but it can also be rewarding in the sense that if it's only a little moisture and the resin doesn't crack you get this beautiful transparent film of a silver sheen. 






This opened up a whole load of new vistas in the work making it more subtle and engaging , inviting the viewer to look more closely. After this I approached other pieces with the same intention such as  'Everlong' 


All the larger wall mounted sculptures are completed in this way of composite pieces making up a larger whole. This  relationship of complete in parts makes sense to me, most of my sculptures are made from smaller parts such as matches or thorns that can be seen like building blocks .Nothing is ever really complete, it's always in parts, seeming maybe for a brief clip of time complete but then crashes, all the matter is there but in a different way. Like a type of Schrodinger's cat, it appears to be complete in the eye of viewer, but it has changed from what it was before it was opened. 



 Broken wings - 2010

Dimensions - ( H x W x D ) - 30 x 17 x 35cm

Medium – Stainless steel, resin, pigment, wood, paint.


www.talkingculture.es

 







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