The Bigger Picture
‘The grid thus does not reveal the surface, laying it bare at last; rather it veils it through a repetition.’
‘The Originality of the Avant-Garde: A Postmodern Repetition’ OCTOBER.
Rosalind Krauss
The Bigger Picture, that which we tentatively refer to as an installation, is in itself original, yet all that has been used to create it is in fact derivative. All the images we have used have previously appeared in our magazine Oh, Francis and have been created by others. Re-presentation, or repetition, alters the original. With repetition there is no original. Speaking of the coupled terms originality and repetition Rosalind Krauss employs the grid to show how historically those artists being original were also being repetitive. Krauss explains that the grid, that which is intended to be free of any reference; a ground zero starting point for the artist, is in fact a repetition. It is from this repetitive point we come, we haven’t rid ourselves of all references, we have re- presented. It is in our disinterestedness in claims to originality we hope to become autonomous. We began with a structured grid and allowed it to disperse. The act of collecting and collating is essentially what we do. In this we are never complete. The unattainable leaves us with something to always aspire to. We hope we’re never satisfied and always imperfect. The dispersal is our intended mistake.
The Bigger Picture is part of the New Living Artists exhibition taking place at IMOCA, Dublin from the 1st - 31st of July, 2010.
