Chipboard™, 2002Inkjet-printed paper on foam board200mm x 200mm x 12mm

In 2002, artist and impresario Richard Bartle moved Bloc Studios in Sheffield, UK, across the road to another building. I took a studio at this time and, once the gallery space was ready, and as a kind of celebratory act, Richard organized the 2002 group show for all the studio-holders. This involved being issued with a piece of chipboard 200mm square, and that was our canvas / inspiration.Some people did what they would normally do, but 200mm x 200mm, and some people did some much more inventive things.I remember obsessing about the piece of board itself and worrying about spoiling it in the process of making something with it. I didnʼt really have any ideas and I was going to mount something I had already made onto the board and use it as a frame. However, this seemed like a very unsatisfying compromise.And then suddenly, it occurred to me that I could reproduce the board, not spoil it, and this could be an acknowledgement of my own problem with preciousness. So, I scanned all the surfaces and inkjet printed them actual-size. I then constructed a body out of foam-board and glued the prints to it, anatomically-correct.

“I donʼt do this kind of work” I tell myself. What I mean by “this kind of work” is the punchline artwork, the one-liner. As James Wallbank put it, “got it” art, or as Will Self coined it, “sight-gag art”.http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2012/jun/01/ybas-versus-old-masters

It never occurred to me that anyone would be fooled by the mock-up, but without close inspection it was very convincing. I still have the original piece of chipboard, unspoiled.

Some years before, I made a conscious decision not to make precious objects, and only make ephemeral or reproducible things that had no intrinsic value. This was partly to cure my own paralysis when making things, always worrying about spoiling it.

I really like group shows, especially if they have a theme or task. You normally see half the artists do what you would expect but the other half go mad.

I spent most of my working life in the 80s and 90s in offices, and I liked parodying the commercial packaging.

As I said “I donʼt do this kind of work” because one part of me finds it trivial, but I really enjoyed making it, and looking at it 10 years on, it made me laugh again. In addition to the mock chipboard, I made a mock leaflet offering other raw materials, and also a cut-out and build cardboard model.

One of the most enjoyable bits was writing the promotional blurbs for the “Raw Materials” leaflet. I should be a copywriter, and to be fair on myself, itʼs not just one joke. I also like “Corny Pastiche Productions Ltd.” I should design a pie-shaped logo for it.

I made a lot of parodies, mocks and pastiches in the past but Iʼve always felt a little ashamed of them, as if somehow theyʼre not serious enough and I really should be doing “proper” art. But satire is a tempting mistress, and itʼs a lot of fun.

As part of the work, I started to write a satirical artistʼs statement, poking fun at the kind of artspeak that is usually produced around art shows, but I decided this was a step too far and that I had already exhausted the joke.

http://blocprojects.co.uk/programme/exhibitions/2002/2002/

Richard Bolam, August 2012http://richardbolamat50.wordpress.com