RECENT ARTWORKS 2025/26
~ Two Sculptures That Virtually Made Themselves ~
‘What Are You Incinerating? (Time Will Tell)’ and ‘Boiling Point (What Do You See?)’
Imagine a discarded rusty incinerator bin lid ~ a found object ~ and a steel mirrored ball, something I already had.
As ever, I wondered if they would go together in some way and yes remarkably the ball did fit the end of the incinerator chimney, so I fixed it in place with silicone from the back. I use mirrors in my work to represent the Self so it seemed obvious that I would use the ball in this way. But I wasn’t sure why.
I didn’t really know what I was doing until I played with the word ‘incinerator’ which to me sounded similar to ‘insinuating’. Naturally, this became ‘What Are You Incinerating?’ ~ the title of the piece. A play on words, yes, but we all know that Climate Change is accelerating because of all the fossil fuels we’re burning. So the title of the work questions our personal responsibility for this and moreover we can’t avoid seeing the reflected image of ourselves in the accusatory mirrored ball.
I thought that was it ~ very clever ~ until I hung the work at home and looked at it in passing every day for a while. Then, staring at me in the face, I became aware by chance that the bin lid was embossed with 12 indentations ~ just like a clock! That’s where the subtitle comes from ~ ‘Time Will Tell’ ~ we need to stop burning stuff because we’re running out of time.
I also noticed interestingly that previously the handle of the bin lid must have had some kind of protective coating on it because unlike the lid itself, it’s only partially rusted. I expect I positioned the handle low down at 6 o’clock for aesthetic reasons but be that as it may, maybe it’s reasonable to think that we’re at 6 o’clock so perhaps there is still time before ‘lights out’ when the clock strikes 12. Trouble is, even if we see the bin lid as a shield ~ which it does look like ~ this protection won’t last forever and clearly…
We need to do something drastic before it’s too late!
.
Then there’s 'Boiling Point' the kettle ~ what’s going on here?
The aluminium kettle was found discarded with the remains of a broken handle and I had no idea what I could use it for but I liked the shape of it. Then I remembered that years ago I dug up an old rusty handle from our back garden which runs along the site of the disused Petersfield to Midhurst railway line and guess what, I was able to attach it with two brass screws without bending it or anything! Amazing! I already had a brass trivet stand for the kettle and a keyhole lying around at home waiting to be used and again surprisingly, with a bit of modification they fitted the sculpture like a glove ~ the spout now has a keyhole and the kettle stands on and is attached to the trivet, which by the way is based on an ancient device designed to protect surfaces from heat or fire damage. Getting the mirror to sit inside the spout was a challenge in itself but…
So perhaps we could say that similar to ‘What Are You Incinerating?’ ‘Boiling Point’ also becomes a comment on where we are in the World at present with Climate Change. Also, it could be argued that we each have a responsibility for the consequences of fossil fuel burning. Look through the keyhole of the kettle and you’ll see yourself as one of the ‘accused’ looking back…
I didn’t set out to make these sculptures the way they’ve turned out and to be honest I don’t usually construct works that have an existential or ecological thrust. But come on, you can hear the kettle screaming as it reaches boiling point and the bin lid crying as it runs out of time…
Can’t you?