Man 83 days of working on a project, leaving everything behind, getting up 5:00 a.m to head to the Carpentry Shop for 7:30 a.m. when work would begin around 8:00 a.m. We made a prototype, then we proceeded on developing the actual seat, which had many challenges, in relation to material, the wood that we got - mahogany, was curved, problem? Nah man, let's use it. In doing that each of the legs had to have its own height.
Then you have to curve the Main Back Rest, to the shape that you see, which we did by hand, all old school. We then bent the stainless steel back rest, then we put in the slots, added the stainless steel hooks, adjusted the wooden back rest to the stainless steel back rest, the stainless steel back rest to the back rest. All this by hand and eye coordination and good old-fashioned craft. It was trial and error, throw away and do over etc…
DAT IS THE STORY……the story is of old school craft and new school technology, where men of our communities bring themselves into conversation with an artist of their communities and build, something…..this thing. Me, I love to build, I like the hands-on things, the ability to conceptually bring something of my own into being, this is what I do when I paint, although not necessarily when I design an object.
Here was an opportunity to do just that, be hands-on, be there, with the little cuts, pushing the wood through the band saw, sanding down; ohhhhh, how I like to sand, when you run your hand along a well sanded piece of wood it feels as smooth as a baby's bottom or that of a girlfriend, or boyfriend. I was there in the 'old talks' in the Change Room, when the men will speak their mind on topics of national and personal interest. There is the workshop politics, as the workshop is situated smack in the middle of the Engineering Department of the University of the West Indies. Yep I was working in the Engineering Department Workshop, but I was miles away from all that. I was in the craft peoples' world. Mr. Powder was the engineer who gave a lot of advice, and this is how we used the stainless steel; as we were told that the wood on it's own would break. The stainless steel provides the strength to overcome the rigours of human weight dropping on it.
CONFIDENCE,
eiiiiy by my own hand,
by our own hands,
we brought forth conceptualism,
we have been able to refine it; thrust into this all too burdensome modernity.
I have felt within me the ability to see more of me in me,
by my hand I shall seek the material of the world and ponder its sins,
pound their souls,
drill open the demons,
we shall make love on the studio floor.
83 DAYS, I have the keen confidence to open, what I have been doing and carry it one step further, as the Mr. Cadette mentioned, in machine shop - "you have to be accurate to the millimeter, in carpentry you can be off a few, it will still work…"...but what I have learnt, you can fix it, the intense critical eye is there, it has been replaced with an understanding of the possibility of re-doing.
I left out titles, so you will be able to look at the work for what it is - a process.
There is also the politics of the hand, a manifesto in the direction of innovation, which at this time in the political realm sits in a very classist position, coming from a very middle-class position. I feel that innovation can emerge when there is acknowledgement from both - the brain and the hand. Historically we are distrustful of the hand and where it came from. That is what is missing from the conversation of the historical destruction of education. The eventual economic future of our society will depend on the realization of the need to reclaim the hand as the primal thrust toward our new world of freedom.
OH, this project will be exported to Holland, therefore how do we address the high cost of exporting innovative goods. Would the state support, subsidize export cost for artists.
EXPORTING - This is an old conversation, with a new twist, I'm having now, and a conversation that will be held later, I hope in union with ACTT and other like minded people.
Now I will paint, my new project - THE TOXIC FORM, will open the doors and sweep the dust that has settled on the tips of the paint brushes, wipe away the harden acrylic, so I will see what is there. I will look at the old work and I will trash its content to make new art, my child, the baby, will come amidst cuss words and tense fits of rage, to sudden calming, sudden orgasms…just suddenness is where I want to be, to see this thing - polyurethane bring forth life and death…
TITLE - THE SEAT-You can sit where ever you dam well please.
DIMENSIONS - 6' length x 3' wide x 4' height
MATERIALS - Mahogany, Stainless Steel, Aluminum, Plastics, Apoxy, Filler
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| THE MEN OF THE 83 DAYS. FROM LEFT MR. CADETTE - SUPERVISOR OF THE WORKSHOP, PRIME, KEVIN, DEAN. MISSING IS MARLON. CARPENTRY SHOP, ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT, UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST INDIES, UWI. ST. AUGUSTINE, CAMPUS. |
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