Joshua Cleminson positions his work somewhere between modernism and consumerism, and photography and sculpture. In his untitled works, he re-creates a larger versions of plastic packaging forms (the ones that toys and pretty much anything small from the dollar store come in) to accentuate the simple and accidental beauty within those consumable items. As a result of this transition, these throwaway items switch from one offs to art objects. Moreover, because of the scale of the items, a bodily relationship develops and the viewer is now presented with something they have never experienced before (which is what art is all about, right?). It is also important to note the striking comparison to Constantin Brâncuşi that arises from an interest in investigating form and developing a non-abstract abstraction.
Untitled |
Situation series |
Within Cleminson’s other work featured here, Situation Series, there is an interest in the photographic re-representation of sculptural works, which is a very tricky subject to tackle as the artist is denying a very critical element of sculpture: the third dimension. Though that denial, Cleminson raises questions on photographic documentation compared to representation as photographs and how we intake most of the sculptures we know. When the artist selects how the work would be viewed, and not by a photographer hired by some gallery to do install shots, there is a whole photographic discussion brought into consideration, on top of the sculptural conversation. The only question that remains is “sculpture or photography?” Can’t they both live together? Aren’t they already bedmates?