In my project I am exploring how boundaries set up by society actually categorize objects into the binary opposites of either valuable or throwaway. What actually defines one object as valuable? This is actually a theme running through my work in both graphic design and printmaking. In graphic design I am creating a formal book that is a catalogue of fifty objects from my bedroom. Everything is photographed and documented with the same respect and authority no matter how ‘valuable’ it might be or not be to another, I wanted to show how I take value from more meaningless objects. Inadvertently the same formality of structure has been applied to elevating my prints to a something of value. This is to further instill that the objects are an invaluable yet unsung hero of our everyday life.
Another artist who has explored this relationship of what things we draw value from is Gavin Turk. With such works like ‘nomad’ & ‘box’ Turk makes the viewer question what objects have value and what constitutes as a piece of art. He has made some beautiful examples of glorifying the absolute mundane and overlooked which exactly what I wanted to achieve before looking at his work. By painting an old rusted skip with a perfect coat of matt black and exhibiting in a gallery space it highlights what can and cant be elevated to our attention, what is in face a beautiful object. His bronze casts of plastic bags, cardboard boxes and figures in sleeping bags are perhaps some of his best works. These exist as monuments to the everyday and every man, the homeless person on the street, the overlooked beauty in a discarded and avoided object. By painting the sleeping bag a perfect rendition of true to life colour and texture, he masks the elaborate nature and effort of which he has gone to producing the work as it looks so lifelike. Not until the viewer realizes its process do they fully receive the power of message behind the sculpture.
