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Adam Art Gallery
29 May – 25 July 2004 |
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Curatorial
Statement | Artist's
Résumé
Bill Culbert's installation Spacific plastic is a sprawling
collection of pastel coloured Tupperware containers interspersed
with bare fluorescent light tubes. Casually arranged, or designed
to appear so, these tumblers and bowls resemble the aftermath
of a school picnic and the light tubes are not unlike the
fluro snap'n'glow sticks that kids are given as a safe alternative
to fireworks on Guy Fawkes nights. The use of ordinary domestic
objects implies human presence and, consequently, alerts us
to its absence.
Since the 1960s Culbert has made artworks
which explore the intersections between light - both natural
and artificial - and objects. As art historian and curator
Christina Barton has noted, for Culbert light is 'medium,
message and metaphor'. The play between light and object in
his work operates in two ways. In one sense, the light - a
symbol of knowledge, insight and transcendence - can be seen
to elevate and transfigure the everyday objects that surround
it. In another, the prosaic nature of these objects serves
to domesticate the light and contain it. With its arrangement
of humble Tupperware and naked tubes of light, Spacific
plastic navigates the territory between these two interpretations.
As curator Lara Strongman puts it, Culbert 'transforms groupings
of prosaic materials into poetic encounters'.
Sarah Farrar
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