PS+NO= Working in the Gallery and Gallery Process Group Critique

After being inspired by Samara Scotts work in Frieze I decided to experiment with using rubbish I had collected as a comment on throw away goods, and mass consumption.

Metal wire and silver leaf. 

Silver leaf over bubble wrap. The details captured here resemble the bubble warps fragility and the silver leaf hardly manages to stick to it. This creates great contrast and this could be used on a larger scale to make a larger sculpture such as a piece of clothing. 

'Lunch' - Coffee cup, crisp packet and time out wafter packet. 

The forms of the object stay the same and that is what is important. The brand and other information is insignificant at this stage. The reduced sticker adds another type of monetary value, contradicting the two materials. We see a physical value of the silver object, with a 'reduced to 36p' sticker on and it makes the viewer think or react in some way. The position of the objects have been arranged as though they are still lunch objects, but perhaps the consumer would think twice before throwing them away if they looked more like this. 

Reflective Log: Process Group Critique with Annie Morad:

• Is art always a process? Yes
• Adding silver to the mundane objects or litter adds some kind of value to change it from being a throwaway good to something more.
• The reduced sticker that I kept on the crisps packet adds a comical effect. It could be taken further and I could hide where it says how much it cost - it could be reduced from a million?
• Hannah suggested using objects that perhaps have a sentimental/ personal value, for example no amount of material that could cover somethng sentimental would change that objects personal value.
• I am using imitation silver leaf at this stage and perhaps that adds an extra irony to the fact I am faking its added value? Although these are just tests at this stage and I do intend to use real silver leaf. 
• I could make a larger sculpture out of all the litter I find and try to see how far I can take the original materials until I turn them into something completely new. 

Reflections / Developments

• This has got me thinking more about the form of the objects I'm working with. 
• I like the idea of mass producing art work, to comment on the mass production and mass consumption. 
• Maybe I could create a shop front with glass cabinets to reflect art as products literally and have the same object (for example a coke bottle) reproduced over and over again, so hundreds cast in silver (or silver looking material) on the shelves. 
• Maybe I could cast real objects in metal and silver plate them?