JILL CHISM | 'Navigation Marker for an Old Piano' | Mixed media assemblage

REMNANT REGROWTH SERIES:

"The installation offers the comparison of a remnant forest with a live functioning natural forest. So, there is both a critical and childlike aspect within the creation of this work. It is serious and humorous simultaneously. By making the forms human height I have again encouraged a deeper ‘one to one’ relationship, with the objects while implying something precious and exotic through the use of the word ‘Remnant'.

Machined wood is juxtaposed with organic pieces and donated wooden objects such as the piano parts. I have, like a curious child, cut pieces up and rejoined them to see what further shapes they could suggest. And as pieces were co-joined they started to animate character and affirm a possible narrative.

The work embodies the conflicting themes of destruction and creation. While implying the loss of ecosystems and forests the work encourages us to look at and re-evaluate what is left. There is an emphasis on Wabi Sabi, the Japanese term that invites us to explore the beauty of what has been previously discarded, rejected or considered ugly. To ‘restore’ objects I have deliberately encouraged the patina, textures and features through sculpting, varnishing and joining compatible or contrasting objects into a whole.

While collectively the sculptures are constructed from what remains the installation invites the bigger question about the future of earth’s natural ecosystems." - Jill Chism