Arise [installation]

Solo work produced for the group exhibition, Rise, at The Galley, Carlisle. Arise consists of an oil painting on MDF and a group of 3 small sculptures created from a screen print made by the artist advertising a past exhibition (Vocal Sans, 2010). The work developed ideas interrogated in previous exhibitions (such as Black Magic, There’s Some on Her Palm…) relating to spell casting and its association with the creative process. Arise was the end-point of a body of work which used a magical interpretation of the creative process in the context of a ‘feminine anxiousness of creation’. In an attempt to circumvent this ‘anxiety of authorship’, the piece operates as an Ouroboros, an alchemic archetype of self-reflexivity and rebirth. The piece appears to be in a position of constant flux, creating and re-creating itself. In the context of the problem of feminine artistic creation, the piece offers a complete break between the author and the work, nullifying the responsibility of the artist’s authorial voice and so the anxiety implicit in the artist/author role. The painting was hung 30cm from the floor, connecting it directly with the sculptural elements which sat on the floor itself. The piece was designed as visual description of a conjuror’s action – the painted hands (based on a found photograph of a dancer in dramatic pose) appear to be arranging the 3D elements. The artist’s central role in the creative process is therefore removed. The hands of the conjuror appear to be literally in control of the artist’s past practice as they hover above the reconfigured promotional screen print.