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Lewis, C., Pettican, A., Mojsiewicz, K., 2018.

Brass Art: that-which-is-not

Output Type:Exhibition
Venue:Bury Sculpture Centre
Dates:17/2/2018 - 2/6/2018
Number of Works:7

Brass Art placed a miniature C19th bone and ivory model pagoda at the heart of their exhibition that-which-is-not at Bury Sculpture Centre, as they revisited sites of significance in their collaborative practice, supported by a production award from the Sculpture Centre. The pagoda, a souvenir replica of a long-destroyed original tower in China, was unearthed by Brass Art in Bury Museum stores in 2000 during a research and development phase for their exhibition Paradise Revisited (2001). The artists revisited this artefact as the centerpiece of a rotating, immersive shadow play, Still Life No.2 (2018), in which the artists' 3D printed bodies are brought to life. In the delicate neon piece to Suspend the Breath No.2 (2018) glass lungs flash blood-red to the rhythm of exhaling and inhaling breath, re-made following their destruction in a catastrophic fire. In three new works, Felt (after Cowper), Kissing Pinks and Clasp (2018), the suspension of breath is made palpable using blown, coloured glass held in 3D-printed hands, replicas of the artists' own. Extending the importance of gesture and rhythm in these temporal works, Brass Art created an animated blue-argon 'drawing', Click (after Hogarth) (2018) based on Hogarth's 'A Harlot's Progress'. The willful but silent 'click' commands attention as counterpoint to the contrasting rhythms in the exhibited works. A new, invisible vinyl text 'From the tower falls the shadow' (2018) appeared intermittently as the light from the shadow play and neon pulses travelled across its surface. The text work mirrors the title of the original neon artwork Brass Art created for the Irwell Sculpture Trail (2005). The exhibition that-which-is-not was selected by Kat Au, senior curator at Bury Art Museum and Sculpture Centre to compliment the Irwell Sculpture Trail's 25th Anniversary celebrations (2018).