Guardians of Grail

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What would you say briefly was the underlying philosophy to your work?
I once wrote "To alter ones preconceptions of space" but what I actually do is tweak or undo or change the [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] interiors of space (predominantly the interiors of museums and galleries when given permission) and in many instances actually enlist parts of the building as part of the sculpture, [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] and in that way unsettle or break peoples preconceptions of space, what they think space [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] might be.. I can radically change that viewpoint in some way.Through any kind of material, the material is the one that suits the idea best, I am not a sculptor that operates with any type of given material, I choose what is suitable or fitting to the particular requirements [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] of [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] the work.
Can you describe the exhibitions that you have had at Matt's Gallery?
I have shown four times at Matt's Gallery, three in the old space and one in the new space. The first show was in 1985 titled "Sheer Fluke", 1987 was "20:50", 1989 was "She Came in through the [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] Bathroom Window", and 1994 was "Water Table".
So in 1985 that was my first exhibition, "Sheer Fluke" was a very large aluminium casting, 15cwt was cast in the space over a period of time to create what appeared to be like a very bent beam arking across the room with a large drawing on the far wall which was a "smoke" drawing. This all stemmed from a piece [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] of writing about the Great Whale in the Natural History Museum but as suspended mass.So., I built this piece of work which is really [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] all about creating a piece of work within a space, through some theatrical process.1987, "20:50", my sort of 'party piece' as the title describes was basically to fill to waist height the old Matt's Gallery at Martello Street with used waste oil, so thereby filling the space I actually by illusion or reflection seemed to double the space.
How [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] did you come to exhibit at [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] Matts?,
It was through a frustration that I got to Matts Gallery. I was beginning to make a name for myself as a sculptor, through the late 70's and early 80's and I remember a very big show coming up at the time of the big sculpture boom with The Lisson Gallery, and those kind of artists, those object makers. It was a big exhibition at The Hayward called "New Sculpture", and it was an open submission and I remember submitting this idea for a casting and having the work rejected and I realised that I wasn't part of a scheme of things at that particular time, everyone was moving with the fashion, making objects and I was moving further and further away.
How would you describe the experience of working with Robin?
It was a very very long working experience, I have known the gallery and Robin for almost 13 years now. What is good about that is that it means one [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] has been able to [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] understand where someone is coming from and see how they have developed and see how our working relationship has got along. [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] He gave me a lot of opportunities by not interfering with the idea too much, allowing me to say to him 'this is what I want to do' and him basically agreeing and finding collateral to be able to put those ideas together
Where is your next exhibition?
Its in the former East of Germany, two shows together; one in Gere at the Otto Dix Museum and the other concurrently in the museum in Zwickau. Its quite busy this year but they are the imminent shows that have not yet been built or drawn! And I am moving a little bit towards to a show of objects. Its really more to do with a sequence of events that has started to make me think about changing the work. One is that I was working very much with site specific work and have been for years, and obviously there are problems [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] with that in that you can't tour a show necessarily, at the same time demand is so great that I can't be everywhere at the same time
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