ABOUT:

You have all heard the stern admonition from supervisors or lifestyle gurus that we must: “Think outside the box” to get on in work and in life. But of course we know boxes are infinitely useful. Sit on them individually as chairs, stack up a few boxes we have a table, open the tops and turn them on their side we have book shelves. As well as storing ordinary things, you can also use boxes as shelter, drawing surfaces, costumes and re-cut the cardboard into sculptures or vast stage sets: A child may even prefer the large box the toy came in to the plastic toy because the container allows the imagination to transport into other worlds. Instead of delivering a preprogrammed experience the carton becomes- in the hands of the child- an airplane, an army base or a ship.

In the case of Isolation Room the box is the 7’ x 7’x 9’ Gallery Kit (2010) which occupies a dining room plus a carefully selected drawing, painting or sculpture. The kit can be built in any existing interior space at minimal cost ‘DIY’. It is just big enough to fit in a few visitors to contemplate the beauty within and includes its own track lighting system. The gallery kit re-imagines the ideal integration between art and life: as such it is also a perfect unregistered non-profit art space. As an owner the space is as public or private as desired and the hours are by appointment. As a visitor, if you tire of the interior of the gallery and the art, you can sit down outside in the living room and rest your feet. You can have a chat with the kit owner and have a glass of wine or watch TV shows- the discussions are always a highlight. Then you can wander off into the back garden and have a smoke if you like, which to be candid, is the reason you probably agreed to show up in the first place. It’s an ideal for living.

Started in July 2010, Isolation Room is an evolving project that will focus on one artwork per exhibition cycle. Each piece will be placed in a physical state of quarantine, situated in a modular viewing space inviting an extended period of contemplation. Building on an ongoing interest in containment, the constructed room allows for the smallest possible collaboration between the gallery space, curator, artist and audience. At its core one work stands in isolation. This is also an opportunity to protect work from a forced theme, loose contextualization or commercial exploitation. By placing the individual piece as a subject in isolation the work is then encouraged to exist and be perceived from an aesthetic standpoint.