But then I have so often found that the event I really did not care too much about going to turns out to be a bowl of delights. The foyer of the James Hockey gallery at the University for the Creative Arts of which Farnham is but one campus contained two stunning pieces. (It contained more than those, but these are the two which appealed to me.)
The one which pulled attention first was the contained distressed piano by sculptor John Joyce. As another viewer next to me said: 'I just want to touch it. Doesn't it look like felt, or fabric?' So many different thoughts entered my mind, clashing: did those things at the corners look like buoys? A piano at sea? Music in dry dock? Emotionally I found the piece intriguing and endearing, and thought-provoking - this last always a fundamental necessity for me.
Having first walked past her work to get to the piano I had already glimpsed the work of Susan Derbyshire as we had approached the foyer. Built around another distressed item: this time a window or mirror, I love the printed images - not just the dress, but more the obscure drawings round the edges. Those prints recalled for me the work of early church glass where the colours are muted and few, with the lines of the illustration in black. The piece has made me want to look again at that early glass.
The pinking shears are cast in glass as is the hook and eye which I particularly liked. I definitely felt drawn back to early memories of dressing and of dressmaking.
And I thought that placing the piece in a large window, so that it acted as a kind of window to the outside itself was much more appropriate than having it hung against a white wall.
2 comments:
The piano is indeed touching. Did you take lessons in your youth? I always thought I wanted a grand piano, although now I think it would have been a real nuisance to cart across the country as we moved. But I love them in some dense way. And this one, deconstructed, is kin to my feelings about falling down barns. The massive nature of the original -- the fragile openness of the derelict.
What was the decomposing piano made of? I'm assuming from the photo that it is strung from the white plastic gadget.
June, the piano is made of very distressed wood, and is indeed suspended between the white metal frame.
I did have piano lessons when a child, but only for a few years. I achieved only a great love of piano music - played by others!
Post a Comment