Un-framing: towards repeated acts of deferral and fracture in fine art practice, production & consumption

Abstract

This paper considers the repeated blurring of the distinction between artwork and display setting, between the ‘pictured space’ and that of the spectator in my practice as an artist. Examples of ‘visual disturbances’ of existing conventions of art production, reception and consumption, through processes of repeated deferral and fracture are discussed. The paper also explores problem finding and delayed closure and reflects on the following issues arising from the practice: • The temporary suspension or ‘short circuit’ of conventions of studio methodology and practice. • The conceptualisation of a ‘ruined, pictured space’ and repeated deferral of ‘outcome’. • The disembodiment of divisions between: object and space; literal concealment and project fantasy; settled comfort and lurking dread (Melville, H. in Vidler, A. 1999, p.57). • The problematisation of perceived physical and conceptual boundaries between art & ‘life’. • The production and consumption of a body of work that speaks to notions ‘ruin’ and catastrophe. The paper shows various attempts to engage with (work in) ‘that place’ described by Buren and Phillipson; to disturb the conventions of production and consumption; to problematise the notion of the art object as a commodity; to work towards a ‘delayed gaze’