SKETCH FOR AEROPLANE No.3 - filmed "& Model gallery" 2014)
Film: (2mins. 56secs) Music: "I've got a feeling"
Film: (2mins. 56secs) Music: "I've got a feeling"
'Sketch for Aeroplane No.3'
In 1995 I was a student building an aeroplane at the Royal college of Art . The project- 'Skyscape Escape', was set to take up all of my time at college. Anxious to have a more conventional platform of debate that allowed for some kind of teaching dialogue, my tutors encouraged me to make some work that was smaller and flexible. This prompted a series of pieces that, at the time, I referred to as 'gallery fodder'. I now give them the less conceited label of 'sketches'.
In this piece a movement sensor turns on a record player and vacuum cleaner which in turn makes the 'Airfix' model aeroplane fly. It was the first record player piece I made. Interestingly the record player was one that I used when I was growing up. I also made the original model aeroplane when I was about 14 years old. In fact all of the model aeroplanes in this series were made when I was a teenager.
At the opening of an exhibition of this work, my girlfriend at the time pointed out that the blue paint was similar in colour to the walls of my old bedroom in my parents house. She also reminded me that I had hidden my model aeroplanes in a cupboard as a teenager. This was to protect them against my mother who would vacuum clean my room aggressively often breaking anything fragile. With these connections pointed out to me I realised that maybe there was something more subconscious in my aesthetic decision making than I had first thought.
In 1995 I was a student building an aeroplane at the Royal college of Art . The project- 'Skyscape Escape', was set to take up all of my time at college. Anxious to have a more conventional platform of debate that allowed for some kind of teaching dialogue, my tutors encouraged me to make some work that was smaller and flexible. This prompted a series of pieces that, at the time, I referred to as 'gallery fodder'. I now give them the less conceited label of 'sketches'.
In this piece a movement sensor turns on a record player and vacuum cleaner which in turn makes the 'Airfix' model aeroplane fly. It was the first record player piece I made. Interestingly the record player was one that I used when I was growing up. I also made the original model aeroplane when I was about 14 years old. In fact all of the model aeroplanes in this series were made when I was a teenager.
At the opening of an exhibition of this work, my girlfriend at the time pointed out that the blue paint was similar in colour to the walls of my old bedroom in my parents house. She also reminded me that I had hidden my model aeroplanes in a cupboard as a teenager. This was to protect them against my mother who would vacuum clean my room aggressively often breaking anything fragile. With these connections pointed out to me I realised that maybe there was something more subconscious in my aesthetic decision making than I had first thought.
Photo: Jo Newman
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Photo: Jason Lee
Photo: Jo Newman
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'Sketch for aeroplane No.3' has been shown on several occasions and broken many times.
Shown in: 'Ferrens Art Gallery'- Hull, 2002, 'Sleigh', (Arts and Business headquarters)- London, 2006, 'Kettles Yard Open 97' (the vacuum cleaner motor short circuited and took out all the lights in the gallery), 'Unipart Reflections of Technology', Paddington station, 1995 (The fragile model aeroplane was trodden on during the selection process), Queen Elizabeth II Hall (the fragile 78 record was broken here), 1996- London, 'Reisbureau Mareado', 2001- Holland and 'And Model' gallery, Leeds 2014.
(This piece is also referred to in my book 'Escape').
Shown in: 'Ferrens Art Gallery'- Hull, 2002, 'Sleigh', (Arts and Business headquarters)- London, 2006, 'Kettles Yard Open 97' (the vacuum cleaner motor short circuited and took out all the lights in the gallery), 'Unipart Reflections of Technology', Paddington station, 1995 (The fragile model aeroplane was trodden on during the selection process), Queen Elizabeth II Hall (the fragile 78 record was broken here), 1996- London, 'Reisbureau Mareado', 2001- Holland and 'And Model' gallery, Leeds 2014.
(This piece is also referred to in my book 'Escape').
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Sketch for Aeroplane No.1
...was pretty basic. It began with a simple experiment trying to get the vacuum cleaner to make the model aeroplane fly. A movement sensor turned on a standard lamp as well as the vacuum cleaner. This had a piece of plastic fixed into the end of the air in-take that vibrated as the air rushed past it. The result was a sudden loud rasping noise whenever it switched on after somebody came near it. Unlike sketch No.3, there was no music. |
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This fragile model was broken once when another student at the Royal College of Art accidentally sat on it in the studio. Despite this, it was repaired and shown a couple of times. The last time- Braintree town Hall gallery (The summer open 1996) it was unplugged as the sudden loud noise gave an elderly visitor with a heart condition an attack of angina. I finally conceded that it was an irritating piece of work and it was dismantled in a studio move some years ago.
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Sketch for Aeroplane No.2
The vacuum cleaner mounted to the wall above a stair well sits on a carpetted shelf.
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The return pulley for the system was mounted on a bracket made from vacuum cleaner pipes.
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'Sketch for Aeroplane No. 2' consisted of a model aeroplane on a string that stretched across the space. At one end the string went around the carpet beater from a vacuum cleaner. A movement sensor turned on the vacuum cleaner and the string took the plane from one side of the room to the other. To keep the speed of the vacuum cleaner down, the motor was wired through a dimmer switch. The circular target hanging underneath was actually something that moved slightly as the plane jiggled around on the string and set off the electronics inside- The noise simulator from a childrens ray gun toy.
It was very unreliable and the string with the aeroplane on it fell on the floor regularly and broke. While it was being installed in a gallery for the last time the motor turned so slowly that it overheated and blew up. |
Actually one of my own model aeroplanes from childhood. Originally a 'Mig 21' it's difficult to tell after so many repairs and battle scars.
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Another model from my childhood collection
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'Sketch for Aeroplane No.4'
...was a model aeroplane on a roller skate fixed to catapult pointed at a painting of the sky on a brick wall. The whole thing was mounted on a plank that came out from the wall. While it was being de-installed from a show in 'Kettles Yard Open 97' a gallery assistant stood up underneath the plank, knocked the plane off and smashed it. It was rebuilt and is now in a private collection (Kettles Yard waiverd there commission on the sale). |
At one time there was a 'Sketch for Aeroplane No.5' but it didn't really exist. It was really 'Sketch for Aeroplane No.3' with a different record on it. I had to rename it when I was trying to claim insurance for damage to it. 'Sketch No.3' was officially destroyed when the original record was broken at a show in the Queen Elizabeth II Hall. They never did pay up so its back to being called 'No. 3'.