About the exhibition
Curated and organised by Jess Lloyd-Smith, and Modern Art Buyer, the exhibition at Tower 42 was a great opportunity to show work right in the heart of the City of London.
Tower 42 is the old NatWest tower, reimagined and reconfigured for the 21st century. It’s unusual, to say the least, to show the work inside glass cases, but to some extent the setting served to accentuate the sculptural quality of the laser cut pieces, so it made for an interesting change from hanging the work more conventionally. An idea that probably merits further investigation.
Work in situ
In conversation with Jessica Lloyd-Smith
Excerpt from a longer interview made around the time of the Tower 42 exhibition, originally published by Modern Art Buyer.
JLS What is the main inspiration for your work? Are there any artists in particular that influence you?
CE I’ve been drawn into the world of high tech digital drawing, from the very earliest moment. I saw a demo of the Quantel paintbox in 1984 and had an opportunity to use the first Apple Macintosh imported to the UK that same year. These tools struck me as being the future, and I continue to love the way one can manipulate visual material using the tools they offer.
I tend to think the arc of the work I’m making has at least as much in common with contemporary music as it does with contemporary art practice, and I remain surprised at how few people are using digital tools to create contemporary work.
The acid house / rave / techno culture of the late eighties and early nineties bought in an incredible, permissive, world of electronica, light, art, audiovisual experiences and sound experimentation, the like of which we, as a society, had never seen before. The digital tools introduced in the second summer of love, 1987, for editing, mixing and creating new experiences, alongside digital manipulation of film and photography, and the endless cornucopia of data that the internet has thrown open, continues to shake the foundations of our understanding of how the world is structured, and is being restructured.
Visually and intellectually, it would be impossible not to be influenced by American art from the fifties onwards; Modernism in all its forms; postmodernism; the architecture of Calatrava and or the Foster / Rogers partnership; the glass studios of Dale Chihuly or Lino Tagliapietra; Mondrian and Sonya Delaunay; Philip Glass and Steve Reich; Chuck Close; the St Ives school; Renzo Piano and Nick Knight; Underworld and their design project Tomato; American Metalflake and custom chop shops; Fred Tomaselli…
The list could go on and on, but must surely end with Bruce Mau’s Incomplete Manifesto for Growth, essential reading. Along with his Massive Change book, which explores some of the fascinating changes digital systems have wrought on the world.
JLS How has your work changed over the years?
CE The machines I’m able to afford have gotten a lot faster. Datasets can be bigger and more complex. Photographic techniques now allow for single prints many metres in length. The ability to explore more options faster, has at least in theory, led to more honed, more considered, and more sharpened studies.
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Link here to read the full text ⟶
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In conversation with Jessica Lloyd-Smith, Modern Art Buyer
Link to associated works
