Proposal/concept book for exhibition. Mixed media including laser cut parts, vinyl application and stab stitch binding
Space Between Us
Space Between Us is a graphic exposition of the built environment. This is a participatory visual activity around spatial perception, it considers how space might shape and be shaped by our experiences of it.
Exhibiting in the ERASURE exhibition at the Stoke City Museum & Art Gallery, January-May 2011. The exhibition focuses on the theme of erasure and the effects it leaves behind, specifically in the context of digital media.
Exhibition view. Vinyl application to wall, approx 120x260cm per piece
Installation of artwork prior to opening
Introductory page of the concept book
'The metaphor of the city as a human body or as a machine, typical of the 19th and early 20th centuries, has given way to the image of a city as an overlapping of diagrams, matrixes and spreadsheets.'
Borret, de Meyer, Versluys (1999:53) The urban condition: Space, Community and Self in the Contemporary Metropolis, 010 Publishers.
Monumental Language
News media, language and power…
The ephemeral and sensational qualities of tabloid news are offset in the work — with notions of longevity, craftsmanship and the hegemony associated with inscriptions from the classical period.
The ‘monumental’ format is appropriated as a site to capture and re-present news text content that by contrast was intended to have a short life-span and would certainly have been a wee bit quicker to produce!
Exhibition view
The larger inscriptions took between 40-50 working hours to create and are carved into Lincoln limestone, a popular material local to my area which has been used to construct the Lincoln Cathedral.
'Brawl You Can Drink'. Limestone, approx 750x590x26mm.
An extract of running commentary suggesting a grim picture of society via a report from the meleé of a typical suburban street after pub closing time. At this point a girl has vomited in the street whilst a bouncer has part of his ear bitten off, ending up in A&E.
Exhibition view
'Knifed In The Face'. Limestone, approx 210x19x30mm
Linguistically, ‘Knifed’ is a verb–object transformation, these are often used in news reports with the effect of changing or obscuring the agency and responsibility of participants in the story.
About the project
The work you see is the result of a sustained inquiry into language, form and place. The project is driven by the principle that we can consider ‘news’ as just a particular instance of an interpretation of events (among many possible others); one which it is perhaps wise not to take at face value.
Seeds… thoughts on creative intervention in the public realm
How do we make sense of our environment? Do public places affect our sense of identity and relationships with other people? To what extent are identities and communities affected by mediated experiences?
This book intends to establish a critical framework pertinent to creative intervention in the public realm. Seeds… thoughts on creative intervention in the public realm brings together a diverse range of critical issues and Chris’s own practice/experiences undertaking a publicly funded arts project. The project was funded by Arts Council England and Renew North Staffordshire.
Feel The Feeling aims to get people talking about change, aspirations, the day-to-day and the bigger picture.
Thoughts and feelings of residents in this area of major regeneration informed a series of typographic works intended to deliver opportunities for ongoing reflection, innovation and communication. The artworks were exhibited around the city of Stoke-on-Trent in March 2009.
Pioneers
Book, 220pp. Documentary and discussion of a major ongoing project, the Bridge, which works to support asylum seekers and refugees in the UK Midlands area.
The book is structured to reflect the essential issues affecting displaced people, also project workers and funding bodies. The type and spatial arrangement intends to reflect a narrative containing interjecting statements and conversation; sometimes conflicting and fairly raw.