Dimensions: displayed: 580 x 1603 x 322 mm
Copyright: © Rebecca Warren, courtesy Maureen Paley, London | CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED, Photo: Tate
Curator: Rebecca Warren's "In The Bois" presents a series of open, box-like structures mounted on the wall, each containing seemingly disparate objects. The dimensions are roughly 580 x 1603 x 322 mm. Editor: My first impression is of a series of curated oddities, almost like little dioramas of… forgotten things. They evoke a sense of playful unease. Curator: Warren often challenges traditional sculptural forms, drawing on influences from pop culture and art history. The "In The Bois" series references the Bois de Boulogne, a Parisian park, historically a site of diverse social activities and sexual encounters. Editor: So, these boxes act as stages, framing narratives of desire and hidden encounters, using everyday objects to suggest something more complex? The exposed wires and lights hint at a raw, almost voyeuristic quality. Curator: Precisely. Warren repurposes and elevates the mundane, challenging conventional notions of beauty and value within a gallery setting. The arrangement and the title itself encourage us to consider how spaces are constructed and used. Editor: Considering the reference to the Bois de Boulogne, might these enigmatic arrangements also be commenting on the commodification of public spaces and the performance of identity within them? They feel like fragments of stories waiting to be pieced together. Curator: That's an insightful perspective. The ambiguity allows for multiple interpretations, which underscores Warren's intention of engaging viewers actively in the artwork's meaning. Editor: Well, it has certainly sparked my curiosity about the hidden histories embedded within the everyday. Curator: And it reminds us to question the narratives we build around seemingly ordinary objects.
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http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/warren-in-the-bois-t12816
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In the Bois is a three-part wall-mounted sculpture comprising three similar rectangular vitrines hung in a row, end to end, 8cm apart. Each vitrine is a five-sided MDF box with a Perspex front fixed either slightly below the top of the box or slightly above it, leaving a narrow opening at the bottom or top. The boxes are painted internally and each is illuminated by a small coil of neon light in a different colour. Viewing the work from left to right, the first box is pale pink and lit by an acid pink light; the second box is painted cream appearing violet in the light of a purple neon; and the third box is cool pale green, glowing warm in the centre around an orange coil. The second and third coils of light are not actually visible; they lie behind rectangular white polystyrene blocks that are positioned centrally in the vitrines, contributing significantly to the work’s visual structure. Other elements of this, placed either inside the vitrines or on top of them, include two small polystyrene spheres, off-cuts of wood – sawn variously from sections of plank, baton and from a branch – twigs, lumps of clay crudely modelled into abstract forms, and several of the artist’s signature little fluffy pompoms. Nails that appear to be pinning the Perspex sheets to the MDF boxes protrude visibly outwards, adding to the range of linear components already constituted by the black electric cables of the neon lights and the lengths of twig. At the extreme left of the sculpture, a roughly cut length of wooden baton is propped between the base of the first vitrine and the floor, appearing to support the box. This is balanced compositionally by a sawn-off stub of branch placed on the top right of the third vitrine. Streaks of yellow, silver and gold paint adorn the polystyrene balls and some of the clay lumps, while the red and violet pompoms sit at visually strategic points – nestling between bulges on a piece of clay or sitting on top of a polystyrene block.
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