Mark Booth - 'Holding Pattern'
Mark Booth
Mark Booth
17 Oct 2019 to 27 Oct 2019
17 Oct 2019 to 27 Oct 2019
Holding Pattern
My sculpture is concerned with camouflage and its relation to form transformation and illusions of materiality. Through the use of pattern, light, and scale, camouflage can change the perception of form. A natural phenomenon, camouflage can be adopted to disguise man-made objects and blend them into their immediate localities. It transforms the artificial into the organic and disintegrates structure by making it appear to shape-shift. In my sculptures, colour schemes and markings obliquely reference nature, but the choice of synthetic paints and their method of application render them completely artificial. This process removes the camouflage patterns from their normal context, highlighting the juxtaposition of imitation and the organic, and accentuating the sculptures by disguising them, paradoxically, in a conspicuous manner.
Holding Pattern is a mid-sized PVC pipe sculpture atop an elevated platform. Pipe elbows combine to create an infinite knot or loop, which, although non-objective, reference the organic. Its modular components suggest a repetition of form, but each is unique in its arrangement, reflecting a free-form process of assembly. An innovative camouflage design using adhesive vinyl wrap covers its surface.
Schema (Yellow) & Schema (Orange) are 2D wall-based works that reflect the designs on Holding Pattern. To create these, a tessellated, random pattern generation technique was used based on Voronoi diagram image processing. These patterns occur naturally in nature and biological forms (cell culture), and are used in complex mathematical programs for mapping systems, information technology, and anti-face recognition. The enlarged pixelations on the panels challenge notions of image representation, and the camouflaged shapes on the sculpture distort form perception. Schema relate directly to the sculpture they adjoin in the gallery – their subject matter and method of display correlates with the industrial-ness inherent in the utilitarian pipes and support system of the sculpture, while the exaggerated pixel designs match the systematic patterns on the sculpture’s surface.
These innovative and unconventional artworks have their origins based firmly in both the urban and rural environment. They have obvious and distinct correlations with specific natural systems, such as woodland habitat. They also reference more civic locale, and it's this connection between the urban/suburban that I hope will activate rigorous discussion and debate with the audience.
Mark Booth
October 2019