Rest 2000

A rest, in a musical score, is a notation indicating a space for silence. It does not necessarily indicate total silence – in the case of an ensemble or orchestra it is often used to draw attention to particular sounds – the silence of certain instruments throwing other sounds into relief affecting the overall atmosphere of the piece. Silences and absences enable us to focus on what is here and visible or audible, just as that which is present always alludes to that which is absent.

arrest – stopping – being held up – interruption

This object was constructed from old mustard-yellow curtains found in a skip outside a house renovation in my street. While it had connections to a domestic sensibility, it grew ‘out of proportion’, exceeded its boundaries, became somehow independent. I had in my minds eye, the strange paintings by some of the female surrealists, particularly Eine Kleine Nachtmusik by Dorothea Tanning. This painting of a hallway is inhabited by two dreamy girls with long hair and a huge, mangled sunflower which looks as if it has just been dragged up the stairs.

That sense of displacement and misplacement in surrealist paintings creates a tension where things appear 'out of place' but there’s nothing accidental in the composition of the painting or the sense of strangeness it creates.

I see this object as an inhabiting device, a strange thing that I drag around as if it were a security blanket, yet is simultaneously an impediment, large and unwieldy. It enables me to claim space, to create a break – arrest – in the composition. It either highlights the absence of the human body or dwarfs it.