Collection

I have now completed this piece(s). I decided that the foam, having come to me in a Help the Aged bag and therefore was a symbol of protection on more than one level. However, after much experimentation with ideas around expressing the notion of protection I then decided that a more positive slant was better. The new 'collectibles' conjour up notions of aspiration - reflecting an aspect of the very consumer products the foam was made to protect and our association of aspiration with cleanliness, godliness, shinyness and tactile products we collect to put texture and feeling to our hopes and achievements. Of course, you can't collect these items so the statement is ironic in one sense and also a comment on art coillection in another. But anyway, lets tally up the actual cost of making this art shall we...

Petrol to pick up foam - £1

PVA Glue - £6.29

The Sun newspaper - £0.30

Print - £6

Frame & Glass - £12

Grand Total: £24.59

Free stuff...

Paint (mine - left over paint from previous work)

Time, thoughts care, effort, motivation, back ache!

Liquid Latex

Collectibles!

Tiny collectable pieces of treated foam! Collect them all to make the secret magic mosaic!

The fact that this foam came to me in irregular pieces suggests to me that a mosaic is the natural method to use here. I could go in many directions though, such as deconstructing the foam further by shaving it or cutting specific shapes and sizes to form more adaptable pieces, i.e. for a jigsaw or to mimic other forms and textures such as brick or rock. The very nature of the foam is restrictive because it can be bent only within a particular gradient and it is not porous so it is hard to accept paint. However, I decided to mix some paint with PVA glue because I found that paint on its own was prone to cracking and I wanted to see if I could change the texture by making it appear smooth and shiny – two properties that are popular in creating allure; and I really want all my objects to have an allure because this is the opposite of disregard and imbues the objects with a sense of value or superficial beauty, which is itself a reflection of aspiration. Aspiration is a funny word; it conjures up thoughts of Hope and Ambition, which are interesting words too – one means to have faith in positive outcomes and the other relates to personal achievement or desire.

Foamosaic

Visual experimentation with the idea of circles! I like circles - they can represent so many things, like Protection, Trust, Eternity, Unity. And a circle is infinitely complex in structure and yet so simple in appearance.

Protection from the cold

Over the past couple of months I've been thinking a lot about my bag of foam. Certain things keep coming to mind. For instance, I find it odd that this package of foam was given to me in a help the aged bag - it just seems odd that a substance who's primary use is to protect fragile objects comes in a bag made for collecting objects to donate to a cause that serves to protect vulnerable people! Secondly, in my thorough research of this type of foam, a plastic of course, I have discovered that it has very limited purposes - in fact, I can find no other designated purpose for this material other than to protect things! This material represents the value that industry places on its off-spring, its children, if you like.
So there is a pressing theme of protection, but also technology, priority and value of human life over value of objects.
By the way the most valuable substance known to man - in terms of its exchange value as a commodity - is antihydrogen, which costs around $300 billion to produce one miligram. It has another name - Antimatter: the equal and exact opposite of matter - it looks like its counterpart, acts like its counterpart and consists of the same properties; but if antimatter touches matter you have one messy party on your hands and a source of energy that dwarfs our most powerful weapons in comparison.
Surely, though, our most precious resource is water, without which we don't survive. Or perhaps value is determined by circumstance - maybe we don't value lots of things. Maybe sometimes we have to create the opposite of what we value to achieve it.
Someone once said that Art is the absolute commodity because it is the image of the value, or rather that we cannot determine an exchange value for it because it represents a value that is not money.

The foam is itself a symbol of protection - one that can be expressed in many ways. There are many famous symbols of protection: St Christopher, a Cross, a Pentagon or even something as simple as a circle. However, that's too easy and a little bit twee if you ask me. I want this piece to symbolize protection and value and even perhaps business ethics. Perhaps I will highlight the original ideals of the bourgeoisie to measure their deviation from these ethics and values. What were they again? Something to do with Autonomy, Moral uprightness and family values, hard work etc. But these values are perhaps reversed by the identical repetitive, reproduceable nature of commodities by machines, and which some say is contributing to exploitation in the world of human work. It is us that need protecting from the gulping jaws of capitalist consumption as it strives for reduction and efiiciency to increase or maintain profits in a climate of ever-decreasing circles of resource. We place our hope in technology - the faithful advocate and accomplice of the commercial economy - one that could possibly relieve us all, protect us from our present fate! Foam is a very good insulator, don't you know!