John Hurrell wrote about formal concerns & their development over the past few years----- -- units, shapes, resulting forms -- in Robinson's recent work In the midst of a white-out in Art News [NZ] Spring 2008. See also Hurrell's review November 19,2008, on his http://www.eyecontactartforum.blogspot.com
Let me state the obvious - the whole of the Govett-brewster Gallery is filled - on all of
its many levels and in its many spaces - by a massive tangle of chains made of
expanded polystyrene foam - six different chains made of different size
links, from what look like chains made of 3m high links to chains made
of
3cm.[?] links - draped and tangled over one another - see photos on
http://eyecontactartforum.blogspot.com -------------------------------------
It stinks: there's a stench of plastic stuff through the space - like acrylic paint - nasty & v likely toxic. What did it do to the curators through the process of 3 months making chains & 3 weeks installing the show?
The endless chained molecules of the stuff [98% air] are shaped as literal chains - bindings, unbroken through the 7 [?] spaces of the gallery.
with careful calculation for each size, of optimum degree of lift & its own
angle of horizontal swivel -- information from Len Lye collection curator Tyler Cann.
It looms over head bulges out over the staircase - gallery 4 is filled with great blocks of the stuff -
it's fragmented like snow - it's got trampled about even into the street & the cafe -
The image it presents is of massive overpowering [sublime] scale & terrifying possibility of this colourless purity of white stuff overwhelming every space available - oceans & land alike: unbreakable bonds heaped up on white blocks - like icebergs.
The kids think it's fun: all this 'dry' 'creaky' light' 'snow' & 'ice'. Adults say it's 'awesome'. I say this smack in the eye of a show is a chilling eschatological vision.
I was listening in to the end of a discussion & one woman remarked how relevant the show was to New Plymouth -- where local manufacture of Ivan Watkins Dow chemicals -- Agent Orange -- are widely believed to have seriously damaged the health of many local people.
I wanted to know how this large quantity of the stuff was to be disposed of -- recycled I'm told. Normally, this stuff is not much recycled, too expensive. Hence, non-biodegradable landfill.
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