Lot 141
DALZIEL + SCULLION (SCOTTISH CONTEMPORARY) †§
ROCK POOL, 2004
Auction: 15 March 2017 at 11:00 GMT
Description
1/5, photographic transparency on lightbox
Dimensions
125cm x 161cm x 17cm (49in x 63.5in x 7in)
Footnote
Exhibited: Houldsworth Gallery, London
Note:
Scottish born and based artists, Matthew Dalziel and Louise Scullion, have been working collaboratively since 1993 and now run an Environmental Art Practice from the University of Dundee. They have exhibited internationally, and received high-profile commissions as part of the British Art Show and Venice Biennale.
In their own words, Dalziel + Scullion's artistic practice is interested in 'new artistic languages around the subject of ecology,' and their work 'strives to visualise aspects of our shared environments from alternative perspectives and to re-establish and re-evaluate our engagement with the non-human species we live alongside.' They use a range of media to stimulate this engagement, across photography, sound, sculpture and video, and both bringing aspects of nature into the gallery/studio and placing their works in the context of the natural world.
In the offered artworks, Dalziel + Scullion bring beautifully detailed photographs of specific landscape elements into the realm of contemporary art, by presenting them as large-scale lightboxes. This inherent juxtaposition of natural and synthetic is a distortion of our expectation of experiencing landscape, and immediately offers a new perspective for thinking about the natural world. This alteration of our perception of nature is extended through the focus of the photographic lens; narrowing our gaze down to small-scale specifics. The viewer experiences an awesome sense of the magnitude of the land, its depth, history and endurance, but this is revealed in a specificity of focus, rather than the dramatic, panoramic landscapes that are often associated with human awe in the face of natural beauty and magnitude.