(2001) Installation, sewed buttons on dyed canvas & net curtain, 358 x 568 cm
Button (2001), installation view for ‘2nd year show’ at Camberwell College of Arts’ gallery
One of the technicians at the college rummaged around and dug out a piece of 6×5 foot canvas from old piles, which I later dyed.
I then made many journeys to places I had become familiar with in both North and South London, visiting charity shops to collect second-hand buttons.
During the Xmas holiday of that year, an ex-landlady offered me the use of her living room. I piled all the chairs and desks out of my way in the narrow corridor, spread the canvas in the remaining space, then poured out my bucket-full of collected buttons
The net curtain materials were also found in the a big boot sale in Kilburn.
The total weight of the stitched buttoned canvas seemed like tons, and it was a pretty head-spinning task to exhibit. When it was just hung for the first time on the sculpture department wall for an assessment, I was so thrilled that I said ‘excuse me’ to the technician and screamed. There were some serious classes going on though.
Button (2001), detail
