Saturday 19 September 2009

A Long Time

These page-a-day diaries are absurd objects about attempting to make time perceptible in a constant state or something like that (although the diary or any object is not in a constant state, but is deteriorating). You can demonstrate space; you can see how big or far something (e.g. how big this computer is) but you cannot see how long time is. This diary has form which plays on our perception of distance. Using a false perspective to exaggerate how far the last page appears from the front of the diary. As we move through time (measured here by the calendar year) we are traveling along the thickness of the diary. Time as distance. A long way, a long time. Although the pages narrow as the year goes on, they also get taller. The last page (December 31st) is half the width and twice the height of the first page (January 1st) so all the pages have the same surface area. All the days have the same length (unlike the Daylight Hours diary). The diary is doomed to fail for a number of reasons. My favourite is that it only works when we are at the beginning of the year, viewing the diary from the front. As we move through the year the false perspective no longer makes sense. The page for day we are in should always appear as the biggest with the beginning of the year (now the past) disappearing into the distance as well as the end of the year (the future).

Friday 18 September 2009

Itchy Scratchy Picture Show

Beach Scene Treeeeeeeeee Scenery I was invited by Jason Evans to exhibit some photographs with himself and others.
Here are some of the photographs i sent for the exhibition titled Itchy Scratchy Picture Show at:
Permanent Gallery in Brighton. 2nd October until 8th November 2009 This is what they told me about the show: Itchy Scratchy Picture Show is a photographic exhibition about process and thinking. Happy accidents and odd epiphanies that stand alone and point a way. The work will be displayed straight on the wall in a uniform size from a digital file. The project is as serious as it is light hearted. “I think of it as the picture/s that you print up, just to a small working size, to get a look at. The ones that interest and trouble you because there is something that you don’t fully understand about them, as if you unconsciously did something. These pictures seem to signpost a new direction in a photographer’s practice, they are transitional pieces, and precursors to a new phase or project. I think all the best photographers have the guts to move beyond the pictures they already know they can make, and spend time with the itchy scratchy pictures to work out what comes next.” Charlotte Cotton In this show Jason Evans invites a selection of exciting photographers to contribute such an image. Sounds good.

Saturday 15 August 2009

Cosmic Diaries

This is a page-a-day diary. The hours of daylight per day have been translated into a page size. So as the days get longer the pages get bigger, then smaller as the days get shorter. There is no cover or back, or beginning or end because the calendar is based on the earths orbit of the sun, which doesn't begin or end anywhere. This is the same principal but made in a more recognised linear diary format. You can see the day light hours curve in the page sizes.

Loop Machine

This is an image from my final show at the RCA. It shows a pin hole camera amongst some other things. A pin hole camera that doesn't have a pin hole in it. You stand infront of it and fire a pin through the tinfoil front of the camera using a miniture blow pipe. This then makes a self portrait of you firing the pin that made the hole, that made the photograph, which is of you firing the pin that made the hole, that made the photograph, which is of you... etc.

Friday 31 July 2009

Hair Dressers Chairs

Some older work. Basically, we (Platform 2, RCA) were lent a hairdressers as an external place to work, away from the college. When it was time for a show back at the RCA we moved all the furniture from the hairdressers to the gallery. Only we didn't have enough seating for everyone, so i made these to match the hairdressing furniture (The hairdressers chairs were made of metal and leather etc. mine are wood and screws and paint).

Sunday 28 June 2009

Oh No

Slapstick, booby trapped porcelain pieces.
A Project for Sevres (French Porcelain Manufacturer). Some words by Roland Lamb;

"With influences as diverse as Jackie Chan and the immortal conflict between Road Runner and Wyle E. Coyote, Thomas's photographic documentary shows how easy it is to decontextualize the perfection of a Sevres vase. Perfection, then, lies not in the object but the rituals and performances of value that take place around the object. Depending on one's subjective relation to Sevres production, the work evokes danger, humour, or even the sublime."

Photographs - Shikai Tsung

Everywhere I Can Draw From Where Im Sitting

Self Help Book Impersonations

This is from a series of wooden blocks painted to impersonate books.
Self help books are often bought and never read. The function is to admit your problem and feel like you are doing something about it.