Words
Lost Magic Kingdoms in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, 2013, Paper, 280 x 220 x 20mm.
This piece is in response to Lost Magic Kingdoms, Eduardo Poalozzi 1985, most notably a particular passage in the book referring to the trading of forged (more specifically photocopied) American dollars in Ghana in 1966.
It is a black and white photocopied recreation of the book in its entirety. The copied book retains all the information of the original in the same way the fake dollar notes retained their value to those trading them questioning the significance of authorship and authenticity. On a formal level the piece references copying in the context of objects created in non-western cultures in mimicry of those found in western cultures and the use of photocopying in the working processes of Eduardo Paolozzi, both detailed within the book’s texts.
http://observereffect.davidchalkley.co.uk/, 2013, Website
Observer Effect is a collaboration with web developer Alan Pennell-Smith.
Each visit to the website contributes to the drawings generated by it.
The coding of the site determines the attributes of each line using data gathered about the origin of each visit.
Drawings are generated for predetermined durations and continually develop during that period.
Artist Smurf x 65, 2012, Plastic figures, bespoke ash and glass cabinet,1300 x 650 x 100mm
With this piece I am exploring how time acts upon objects. The objects were mass-produced from identical moulds but time has afforded them different histories. Only when viewing these items as a collection of individuals do the effects of their histories become clear.
2.00045 Artist Smurf, First issued: 1978 (1978 - 1991)
Later productions: 1997 - 1998
It is what it says, 2011, Dental plaster, 100 x 60 x 30mm.
‘Decus et Tutamen’
This piece is concerned with the use of language. The words describe their own function.
If the piece prompts investigation into what the words mean and why then the work has been successful.
T9, 2009, Hand cut vinyl on wood, dimensions variable.
In this series of pieces each image contains two words that exist simultaneously. The words have been selected using mobile phone T9 predictive text messaging software and the coincidence that two or more words, that are written using the same number keys, relate.
The predictive text software offers possible alternative words for those that have been written based on all the available letters on the number keys used. The fact that these alternatives should ever relate to one another relies on a number of variables; language, the position of the letters on the number keys and the idiosyncrasies of English spelling.
This work is about technology at the time of making, software is continually improving and developing and has already evolved, in many cases, into a system that no longer produces these relationships. (Written in 2009)
8*9*
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(Samsung x830)
Candle/Light (for Lost Magic Kingdoms) 2008, Wax, wick, wood, 900 x 800 x 300mm.
Candle/Light takes reference from recycled light bulb oil lamps found in some African communities. The piece comments on progress and technology, using the simple example of the candle and its (indirect) replacement by the electric light bulb.
The piece also serves as a memorial to the incandescent light bulb in a time when they are being slowly phased out and being replaced by more efficient technologies.
Fragmented series, 1999 – Ongoing.
This series of work started with a concern with medical external fixation techniques and the related ideas of repair and self-repair. Subsequently they became more concerned with creating literal three-dimensional exploded diagrams and later the use of small fragments to describe complete objects. The early work was developed from a kit of limited parts with an illustrated instruction manual that could potentially be applied to repair the form of any object. This series of pieces explores visually describing a complete object using only broken fragments and spatial relationships. Many of these works also make use of the plinth as a major element in the work; attempting to break away from the conventional box format and using them to create a connection between parts and not simply for display and support.
Later pieces that developed from this series were concerned with exploring the concept of individuality in mass-produced forms and how through breaking objects, the once invariable forms become unique.