Dimensions: object: 864 x 356 x 356 mm
Copyright: © Tate | CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED, Photo: Tate
Editor: This is Clive Barker’s *Splash*, currently housed at the Tate. It seems to consist of a bucket under a faucet, all very shiny. What do you see in this piece, particularly concerning its materials and construction? Curator: The high-shine surfaces immediately draw attention to the work's fabrication. Consider the industrial processes involved in creating such flawless metalwork. What’s being critiqued about labor and consumption here, I wonder? Editor: I didn’t think about that. So it’s not just a shiny object but a commentary on manufacturing? Curator: Precisely! The choice of these specific materials speaks volumes about our relationship with mass production and its effect on daily life. Editor: I see it now! Thanks for helping me look beyond the surface to the processes that inform the piece.
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This work was suggested to the artist by a row of buckets he saw outside an ironmonger?s shop, one of which had rain water in it. He bought some buckets, taps and tubing which he then covered in chrome. Barker said that at the time he was inspired by the American commercial practice of carefully arranging ordinary domestic objects in shop displays as if they were expensive. Gallery label, May 2003
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