Friday, July 1, 2011

Cornelia Parker: The Folkestone Mermaid

Cornelia Parker is an artist I admire greatly, for her embrace of ordinary materials and her ingenuity in transforming them.

She recently completed a "mermaid" for Folkestone, England, for the Folkestone Triennial, reprising Copenhagen's Little Mermaid through her own lens.

Her interview in the Tate video series describes both the project and her approach to her work.

"Parker's compelling transformations of familiar, everyday objects investigate the nature of matter, test physical properties and play on private and public meaning and value. Using materials that have a history loaded with association, a feather from Sigmund Freud's pillow for example, Parker has employed numerous methods of exploration- suspending, exploding, crushing, stretching objects and even language through her titles."

Poison and Antidote Drawing, 2010
Rattlesnake venom and black ink, Anti-venom and white ink
37 x 37 cm

Pornographic Drawing, 1997
Ink made from dissolving video tape (confiscated by HM Customs & Excise) in solvent
61 x 61 cm

Hanging Fire Suspected Arson, 1999
Charcoal, wire, pins, nails
Length: 140 cm Width: 84 cm Height: 220 cm

Cold Dark Matter: An Exploded View, 1991
A garden shed and contents blown up
Dimensions variable
Perpetual Canon, 2004
Flattened brass band instruments suspended
Dimensions variable

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