Output details
34 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
Goldsmiths' College
The Esque Collection
The Esque Collection is a sculpture installation commissioned for Sinopticon, a group exhibition shown first at four venues in and around Plymouth: Saltram House, Plymouth Arts Centre, City Museum and Art Gallery and College of Art, (April-July 2012) and also involving artists Isaac Julian and Meekyoung Shin. It was also shown in Couriers of Taste, Danson House, London (April-Oct 2013) and will be shown at Brighton Pavilion (2014).
Esque responds to the theme of Chinoiserie, which is historically associated with western interpretations of Chinese culture whereby cultural misunderstanding was translated into the production of decorative objects. I explore a contemporary Chinoiserie: the Chinese interpretations of western culture through the manufacture and export of cheap disposable objects. Using these imported objects, I create sculptures that explore the global impact of Chinese manufacturing, and the potential for the misinterpretation of cultural heritage through the objects we buy every day. My assemblages ask the viewer to relook at the objects they buy to understand the speed of globalization and a growing Chinese economy, and what is lost and gained through interpretations of different cultures.
I was commissioned to create a work that addressed current Chinese culture alongside Ai Wei Wei and Grayson Perry. This research was launched in January 2011 with a symposium at the V&A, ‘China Through the Looking Glass’. A period of research sourcing objects from bricolage shops and on-line, funded by the Arts Council and National Trust, was followed by development work in my studio. The completed 24 sculptures were displayed on bespoke plinths.
At each touring venue, the sculptures were presented in response to the location, allowing maximum audience accessibility, both as a collection of ornate objects, and as a close-up of dissonant plastic ready-mades.
