It was Thursday, May 16th and approximately half past three when I entered the studio of Anna Clawson and Nicole Ward at Nida Art Colony. While coming up the stairs, the first thing I noticed was a very strong smell. I have to admit I didn‘t like the smell at all, but that bothered me only until I saw the installation. On the ground there was a sculptural group of objects underneath which there was a transparent wrap with a wavy black line marked on it. On the walls (one to the left and other in front of the group of objects) there were two compositions, made mostly of square panels. On both artworks there were drawings of 3D figurative constructions and the material was the same that was used in the sculptural group. There were also pencil lines drawn on the wall, framing a picture of a man and a black/white abstract drawing. The last artwork I noticed was a TV screen sitting on the ground showing the picture (video) of a banister. More than 1/3 of the screen from back to front was covered with some kind of dark brown wrap, slightly glossy and transparent which was suspended from the ceiling. This mysterious material appeared to be the source of the smell.
When I walked into the space, the artwork with the screen attracted me in an instant. The wrap hanging from the ceiling had the most effect, its verticality contrasting with other artworks was interesting. That‘s why when you walk into the space without thinking you already going to look at it from the close up. It is only after you have spent enough time analyzing the picture of the banister and material hanging from the ceiling that you can look around. You can see the connections between works on the walls and the sculpture on the ground, because of the same material and also because of the flatness and horizontality. The sculpture is different than the other parts of installation, however – that wavy dynamic line makes this work special and because of it the whole installation loosens up. Talking about this installation as a whole, it‘s mostly flat – horizontal, very stiff and static although at the same time it makes the installation very strong, tough and powerful, you can feel that in the air.
That was a little bit of impression from one personal subjective side – which I gathered together from being alone in the studio. Afterwards I spoke to the artists, Anna Clawson and Nicole Ward. As the result of this talk comes the other part – the real story of this work.
Title:
Sharp like a Horizontal Guillotine. As I was explained, the title came from descriptive text of the particular photograph and they used it as a reference to pull all those pieces of installation together.
Inspiration:
The photograph. It was made in 1924 by August Sander called „The Notary“. They both were inspired by the man in a photograph. How he‘s in between upkeep, holding his position, his sense of control. For them, everything in the photograph feels very particular, very flat as a facade. This quality of the photograph was what triggered their interest in, as the artists say, status of material, status of object, status of people.
The descriptive text of the photograph. The artists found it in the book „Legal Stagings“ edited by Kjell a Modeer and Martin Sunnqvist. It said: „In 1924 August Sander photographed a notary in Cologne. The man is posing in front of the steps to his house or office. A hat, sharp, edged, like a kind of horizontal guillotine, buttoned coat from which a high stiff white shirt collar protrudes, in his right hand a walking stick, in his left a leash; the black thoroughbred greyhound shines like his master‘s heavy leather shoes. Self – assured, important, stiff as a post. Law and order. Snappy brutality.” This description for them felt very sculptural and that‘s what they used as a center of their ideas.
Robert Bresson. He was a French film director and screenwriter. “The Notary” for Anna and Nicole felt very much like a still shot from his movies. Both were inspired by Bresson and by his notion states between things.
Nida. They were partially influenced by being at Nida. Both wanted to display ideas separate from the place. They explained it wouldn‘t be as exciting just to present the ideas of this place to people who live here.
Sharp like a Horizontal Guillotine (itself):
Piece with screen with placed specific material on top. On the screen there is a picture of banister in white background displayed. The artists have made the banister a separate object – isolated it and pulled it away from its natural interior location. Then they placed that specific material on top of it, which appears to be used for welding, cutting metal in steel industry. Before they came to Nida they already knew that they were going to work with this material. The idea was to pull back the object (banister), but at the same time pull it forward. That is why it‘s covered, but it‘s not fully hidden. It states like a status of the object in between the two locations, in between space.
Sculptural group. Its material came from the same place where banister has come from. This piece originated from interior furniture, but they have imitated it so it wouldn‘t be functional.
The transparent wrap underneath sculptural group. The wavy line on it was created very loosely, freely as they said „it‘s all very free hands“. The purpose of it was to break up the straight lines/shapes in the space, everything here was very rigid and the free hand of the shapes of the interior helps break up that form.
Drawings. They are all hand drawing and because of it they are slightly not in perspective, not correct.
To sum up, the two young artists came to Nida two months ago with ideas which were brought from their studio in Bristol. The idea was to make sculptural installation, but in the end it developed as a mixture of sculpture, installation and video. The whole of the installation was made together and even the drawings are collaborative works. All the pieces are linked together by features such as flatness, angularity, statics, austerity and rigidity. Also some of the pieces are connected by material but the most important thing that binds them together is the main idea of status of objects in between space. That’s it. I’m pleased to introduce you the Sharp like a Horizontal Guillotine.
