Gathering from above

This invite to the current Martino Gamper exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery made me think about the floor installation I recently exhibited at 1 Royal Terrace.

Following my exhibition at 1 Royal Terrace, one of the things I have been thinking about is if I want to re-exhibit any of the works. I know I do not want to exhibit Brimming anywhere else as it was made especially for that bookcase as a site specific work. I am happy with the individual units being displayed individually in different places as it becomes a different work when they are separated.

I am playing with the idea of re-working 'Gathering', the floor installation. Again, this was a site specific piece, made with the same floor tiles that the gallery floor was covered with. I would like to try removing the floor tiles and exhibiting the blocks in the same arrangement but on a plain floor. I would also like to try making the work on different types of floor, maybe using different tiles.

I would like to make a work on the floor that, when viewed from above, the work blends in with the floor.

All lined up after polymerisation

Today I removed the latest casts from their moulds and laid them out to dry.

I then attended to the numerous casts that have been drying, waiting to be coated in a polymer solution. I mixed the solution of water and polymer, and placed 4 rods of wood onto the floor. Gradually, I worked my way through the casts that had been drying, dipping each  cast into the polymer solution and rolling it around so that it is coated on all sides. I then placed the cast onto the wooden batons so as not to stick to the flooring.

I am developing quite a range of colours of the floor tiles, but think I need to vary the heights more.

Coloured floor tiles

Yesterday I cast a couple of forms that are the exact shape of a floor tile from the gallery. Whereas the other casts that I have been making for the bookshelves are multicoloured, I made the floor tile casts as single colours. 

Today I removed these from the moulds, and tested out the idea to put the floor tile on the top of the cast so as to extend the floor vertically. I aim to create lots of coloured floor tiles at different heights, and install them on the parquet flooring in the gallery.

Yesterday I also cast from a mould I had not used yet. This pillar-like mould is for the bookcase. When pouring the plaster into the mould, I noticed that, due to the tall and thin shape of the mould, the plaster was splashing high up the edges. This can be seen in the resulting form.