BIG BOYS TOYSMain Space Gallery
|
|
Big Boys Toys is a series of drawings created using a remote control toy truck over a surface of ground charcoal. Each drawing forms one piece in a large matrix that, when placed in the correct sequence, form a massive drawing of the truck itself. The truck’s movements are erratic and unpredictable and, as a result, so are the residual marks. The process used to create each drawing, using a child’s toy and attempting to guide it along an intended path, is comical, playful and chaotic.
The drawings were created by first dusting paper with ground charcoal and then manipulating a child’s remote control toy truck across the surface. The device was manipulated across the page by tilting the board to which the drawing was attached. The residual ‘tyre tracks’ created were then used as a basis to extract shapes intended to manipulate the viewers eye along the intended line. As a result, some drawings activate their space in uncommon ways – some marks exist only at the paper’s edge or in a corner.
When each drawing (53 in total) is put together as prescribed by the matrix it forms a drawing several orders of magnitude larger than the toy itself (approximately 4 x 4.2 metres).
This series draws inspiration from artists such as Matthew Barney and Tim Knowles, among others, who both use physical or material restraints to expose the basic premise of drawing as ‘mark making’. The beauty of Barney and Knowles work is the drama within the process used to create their paintings and drawings. This series of work celebrates that process of creating. The marks, shapes and lines created through this process challenge the relationship between space and aesthetics and traditional notions of drawing processes.
As part of this exhibition patients and families will be invited to participate in workshops to create their own crazy and wild works with donated toys. Participants will explore the techniques used to create the works in this exhibition: using toys and other moveable objects as the primary creative tool. The workshops will offer patients and their families the opportunity to develop a series of large collaborative paintings to display in the gallery for the duration of the exhibition while offering an experience that is stimulating, inclusive, inspiring and creative.
The drawings were created by first dusting paper with ground charcoal and then manipulating a child’s remote control toy truck across the surface. The device was manipulated across the page by tilting the board to which the drawing was attached. The residual ‘tyre tracks’ created were then used as a basis to extract shapes intended to manipulate the viewers eye along the intended line. As a result, some drawings activate their space in uncommon ways – some marks exist only at the paper’s edge or in a corner.
When each drawing (53 in total) is put together as prescribed by the matrix it forms a drawing several orders of magnitude larger than the toy itself (approximately 4 x 4.2 metres).
This series draws inspiration from artists such as Matthew Barney and Tim Knowles, among others, who both use physical or material restraints to expose the basic premise of drawing as ‘mark making’. The beauty of Barney and Knowles work is the drama within the process used to create their paintings and drawings. This series of work celebrates that process of creating. The marks, shapes and lines created through this process challenge the relationship between space and aesthetics and traditional notions of drawing processes.
As part of this exhibition patients and families will be invited to participate in workshops to create their own crazy and wild works with donated toys. Participants will explore the techniques used to create the works in this exhibition: using toys and other moveable objects as the primary creative tool. The workshops will offer patients and their families the opportunity to develop a series of large collaborative paintings to display in the gallery for the duration of the exhibition while offering an experience that is stimulating, inclusive, inspiring and creative.
|
This exhibition is generously supported by the Women's and Children's Hospital Foundation and the City of Adelaide's Arts and Cultural Grants Program.30% of all sales go towards the Women's and Children's Foundation.
For more information please visit www.wchfoundation.org.au. |
|
|
|
Left: the matrix used to guide each drawing; Right: the little truck used to create the unusual marks; Below: all 53 drawings laid out as intended.
