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Shades of Yellow Exhibition, London.
22/04/15 - 25/04/15
dry was presented at the Shades of Yellow exhibition, Embassy Tea Gallery, London.
22/04/15 - 25/04/15
dry was presented at the Shades of Yellow exhibition, Embassy Tea Gallery, London.
In this exhibition dry was situated on a protruding wall. This made our presence in the space more prominent, therefore a more immersive experience for the audience. The audience began viewing the piece as dodo were sitting at ground level, focusing on the applied paint on the wall.
For dodo, the experience was shared between them; firstly the focus on the wall vague, not vivid. And the "plain white" wall was no longer as plain. In some ways, not only were new patterns emerging, new perceptions of the piece were forming. For example the period of time before applying the paint was unintentionally prolonged. Within this time dodo were focusing on the imperfections of the paint already on the wall and reconfiguring their perception on the application of the paint about tor be applied. This lead to both of them understanding that the original layer of paint wasn't a clean slate, and so they had to become familiar with the painted wall, in order to explore de-familiarity. Once the first inclination to apply the paint had manifested into an action, the process of de-familiarity and these actions accelerated.
A rule was set between dodo to stay focused on the narrative of the wall. Temptation to divert focus from the wall to members of the exhibition opening was resisted, allowing dodo to become completely engaged with the intention of the experiment - a discovery for original forms. Communication between dodo, both verbally and through body language became paramount for dry. An awareness of self, connection with each other, the relationship to the paint being applied to the wall and the audience created an interesting balance of painting, performance and installation. Although there was clearly a performative area for the audience to watch, this was unspecified and interaction would have been welcomed. The actions being made by dodo were purely unrehearsed and at times unconscious, but channeled by a mediated desire to explore defying the familiar. After what seemed like a lengthy period of time for dodo (difficult to identify in such a focused state), any elements of being self-aware and performative in front of an audience had been lost. This was reversed when dodo left the space - the live aspect to the piece beginning to dry out.
More Images from the Shades of Yellow exhibition.