ESSAY FOR CATALOGUE, ART + WORK

‘There is no such thing as repetition’, I thought. This made a profound impression upon me.

From Repetition: An Essay in Experimental Psychology by Soren Kierkegaard, 1843.

The use of repetition in Lucinda’s work reveals the truth that there is no repetition in fact; each steel bar rusts uniquely, each bottle reflects differently. What might look static or permanent is constantly in flux.

Lucinda is interested in labels such as ‘red’ or ‘steel’ and the degree of permanence and stability that they imply. Her work accentuates the disparity between these labels and the constantly changing reality: a cloud passes across the sky and the colours immediately transform; rusting steel never stops changing and developing. As we walk through the exhibition, the linear nature of the work exaggerates the changes in perspective, making it all the more apparent that the visual field is constantly changing too.

It takes a lot of effort and repetitive labour to temporarily hold natural processes at bay. In ‘Difference‘ the steel bars have been polished using the kind of lathes on display in the museum and – temporarily – a mirror-like surface can be achieved.

Given all the work that it takes to hold something still, even something as apparently solid and permanent as steel – it is appropriate that ‘Difference‘ is being displayed in the Museum of Bath at Work.

May 2015

Exhibition at The Museum of Bath at Work.