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Untitled (Yellow Vest) – a work that challenges the role of the object in sculpture

Commissioned to respond to the work of Ib Braase, ‘From My Little Sister’s Room’, Bainbridge created this sculpture continuing his 'influential' area of research (Griffin, Frieze, issue 123) into the viability of a continuing modernist sculptural language, maintaining contemporaneity in relation to attitude and material, and merging aspects of the everyday with ideal abstraction. Included in the exhibition, Facons, Plads & Kulor, which focussed on 'the status of the object in sculpture today', this predominately Danish survey included works of Aksel Leiber (Germany) and Bainbridge (UK) to provide international context and dialogue. The work places two objects in opposition, a stylish modernist structure made from iroko (a teak-like hardwood), imitation woodgrain melamine, and a cheap bright yellow string vest. Through subtle spacial engagement, evoking at once a painterly sensibility through shallow depth of field, and an abrupt object presence, 'Untitled (yellow vest)', questions it's own genealogy, whilst offering reason for a continuing modernism. This large group exhibition was curated by Torgny Wilke and Hans E Madsen, who regard Bainbridge as having a significant influence on European sculpture, and was sited in the old library (now an exhibition space) of the Rundetaarn (Round Tower) (www.rundetaarn.dk), in central Copenhagen. The tower was built in 1640, following pioneering work by Tycho Brahe in the world of astronomy. It is today a popular and well-attended cultural venue. The exhibition coincides with Copenhagen 'Culture Night', 15 October 2010, when around 8000 people visited the venue.