Misc. / Photographs

Plates

1998
Light jet print face mounted on plexi
40" × 40"

This work is a series of large colour photos of a collection of tea saucers. The plexi provides both a smooth, shiny surface that coincides with the glaze of an actual plate and a rigidity that allows the photograph to lean against the wall much like a fine china plate would. Different historical and cultural contexts are suggested, one being a link to family history and memory. The plates in these pieces represent a range of tastes that reveal something about identity, nationality, and class. The commercial sterility of this work causes a blurring of signifiers, it is not enough to limit them to family identity, as their minimal construction disconnects them from everyday experience. The size was chosen in reference to Jasper John's Target paintings .There is a continual shifting of value between the domestic and art. The pieces can exist as a photograph, painting or sculpture, but the real place of value is undefined.