Vasiliki- Steve Interview (notes)

Steve: In [title] 2 fleeces, each measuring 2.5 meters have geometrical shapes drawn on them. The drawings depict impossible shapes, they depict optical illusions in which the foreground and the background of the object shifts place. The fleeces are folded and placed on furniture on top of a colour field that stretches up the wall and on to the gallery floor.

V: Yes the viewer is invited into this space to unfold the fleece and occupy the space.

Both of these objects are a cross between sculpture and drawing. The keep their material essence as objects and the gesture of drawing is also apparent. The piece invites the viewer to reflect on these concepts of use, and materiality and transformation. I would also like the work solicited a conversation amongst the people who visit the piece.

S: also in the show is a wall piece comprising six objects which explores similar territory. In the same way that you deal with impossible drawings in [title of first piece] in this second piece there is something unresolved about their scale.

V: They are medium, human scaled objects; something someone can carry or move in the space but not so small as to carry in your pocket and not so big … so you could pick it up and have a sense of natural scale if you touch them. They are balls made of different materials. Like the first piece they depict geometric shapes but the geometry is not perfect and the natural materials (porcelain, mushrooms &c) also interrupts their geometric perfection. They move from geometric to organic and back again. These pieces, although conceived separately, relate to each other because they both using senses of everyday experiences, but transformed, and there is an invitation to play and engage with the space and the objects. A story accompanies these objects this is presented as text on the wall below an arrangement of the objects. The text speaks of an experience, and memory, of an incident which took place in a Dutch market where I saw six objects in a box. These objects triggered memories of a Dutch painting, in which mundane objects are commonly placed. When I started top look for the particular painting I realized it didn’t exist, I had constructed the painting in my memory…