EXHIBITION AND AUDIENCE : MFA Seminar 3: July 2019
Not yet titled, 1-5, (found solidified molten aluminium, screw, charcoal, ash, dirt, plant matter, pot riveted aluminium bracket, nuts, bolts, steel staple pin, hand-bent steel rod, concrete, recycled engine oil.)
Found in the back of a trailer, these remnants of broken ladders burnt in a rubbish fire bear little trace of their former function. Caught in a chain of constant evolution they give way to the manipulative forces of their environment and human intervention. Collected memories lay embedded in their form. Handmade plinths modelled on old chairs act as a platform on which these found forms can perform.
These works enable me to rethink the divide between the cultural and the natural, to recognise the relationship between humans and matter as a mutually performative interaction, one which is always responsible for co-creating what is.
(found solidified molten aluminium, screw, charcoal, ash, dirt, steel staple pin, hand-bent steel rod, concrete, recycled engine oil.)
Insight into the making process:
These plinths were modelled off a group of retro chairs I have collected over the years. I am a beginner welder and found this project extremely challenging. The hand-bent stands are not perfectly parallel and although this annoyed me at first, I actually like the way it references a handmade quality in comparison to industrially manufactured furniture where imperfections are devalued and seen as a fault.
Concrete mold for plinth tops 
I wanted these concrete tops to be as smooth as possible and slightly glossy to amplify the textures of the found materials which sit on top.
Mel Arnold 