Interview with Laura Taylor: Speedboat Matchsticks
I caught up with Laura, the winner of last year’s Open Show before the private view to discuss her working practice and how the exhibition came together.
The installation is a plethora of colour: primary yellows, blues, brilliant pinks and acidic greens. Scraps of wrapping paper adorn the walls with broken toys and workmen’s tools scattered beneath. The dichotomies of creation and destruction; chaos and restraint, dominate. The sculptures recall Dadaist ready-mades; assemblages of random objects that slowly, clumsily move in pre-ordained circles. Their movements are ineffectual, and restricted. At any moment they look as if they are about to stop, and in a funny, odd way they are mesmerising. There are a few graphic works, framed in amongst the tissue paper collages. The drawings are spindly and insubstantial, little graphic spirals and windmills which evoke the childish and fleeting aspect of the exhibition. The installation and the drawings, despite being carefully put together look as if they were dashed off at random. Around the works Laura has left some of the tools with which she assembled the exhibition; paintbrushes, screwdrivers and a step-ladder underneath a motorised work attached to the ceiling. It is at times untidy; in some cases the viewer is left unsure as to whether the tools are meant to be there but this is part of the playful nature of the exhibition.
In amongst the debris Laura remains calm: “I haven’t encountered any major problems in setting up the exhibition. But I always get nervous because I care about my work and want it to be well received. I’m not from round here so I’m not sure who’s going to come tonight!” Laura, who is based in London, had been preparing works in her flat prior to the exhibition. Despite working at Surface for a week preceding the opening, she is used to a longer set-up. Her last project, a one month residency in Cheltenham, produced a number of the sculptures included in the exhibition. The name Speedboat Matchsticks may seem arbitrary, it was found in a Google search for self-made motors, but its randomness is precisely its point. The name’s unusual juxtaposition encapsulates the “whimsical-functional” aspect of Laura’s work. Speedboat Matchsticks has a haphazard, post-party atmosphere as if a raucous game of pass the parcel has gone awry. Laura explains that: “The enjoyment and playfulness of my working process is shown in the final outcome of this installation. My use of objects allow for accidents to happen. Chance and control are two main constraints of the installation”. She adds; “I have no desire to plan the outcome of the exhibition; rather it is through a process of trial and error the decisions are made of what objects are used and situated”.
When asked about the “seemingly random” objects used in the installation, Laura’s attention to detail when sourcing objects is apparent: “Material has always been an important factor in my work. The materials used vary from acrylic paint to pigment, glue, plastic, card, glitter, oil paint, wood and motors; additional objects are salvaged from everyday life. The use of ready-made objects are accumulated from various sites; sheds, skips and friends’ old possessions. Within the studio these objects are transformed to become theatrical and animated whilst challenging the robust quality of the materials; I believe the objects to be connected to British humour, I grew up watching ‘The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer’. The humour of random objects and absurd behaviour resurfaces within my practice”.
I particularly like the two sculptures made from parts of an old bike. They convey that sense of comic futility present in a peculiarly British humour. When I mention them Laura laughs; “That was actually my mum’s bike, she gave it me but I didn’t know she wanted it back...she was horrified when she found I had cut it in half!”
Finally, I ask: “What inspires you?” to which Laura cautiously replies, “I don’t know if you’d call it inspiration but ‘playfulness’, that’s how I start; a curiosity with objects and paint. My work is centred on the process and the decisions I make during this. Movement, colour and form fascinate me. The artists which I am interested in vary from Fredrick Roland Emett (who made a water powered clock in Nottingham), Rube Goldberg, Heath Robinson, Roman Signer, Tomoko Takahashi's, Sarah Sze, Stuart Haygarth and Jean Tinguely...”
Laura has an exhibition planned for January 2011 in Gloucestershire and until then she will continue making art; let’s hope no more of her mother’s bikes are harmed in the process.
Speedboat Matchsticks is at Surface Gallery until 15th April, with a special Artist’s Talk at 8pm on 15th April. For more information visit www.surfacegallery.org
