RETURN TO RECENT WORKS
POSITIVE PATTERN, 2016
Group of 5 sculptures, Edition of 3
Details
From Barbara Hepworth, Pendour 1947
From Barbara Hepworth, Oval Sculpture 1943
From Barbara Hepworth, Pelagos 946
From Barbara Hepworth, Tides 1 1946
From Barbara Hepworth, Wave 1943 – 1944
CNC Milling Foam, MDF, Perspex.
Installation Dimensions variable.
Photography: Tom Nolan, Becky Reay & National Galleries of Scotland
Links
DESCRIPTION
Positive Pattern was commissioned by The Institute of Transplantation, Newcastle to honour the compassion of organ donors and their families. At its centre is the idea of making visible an absence or a presence that is unseen. Research is a central aspect of Borland’s practice. She often works with specialists, particularly in the realms of science and medicine to help to develop or realise her ideas. To develop these sculptures, Borland worked closely with staff at the Institute and donor families for over two years.
Alongside intimate conversations, Borland also drew inspiration from the work of British artist Barbara Hepworth (1903-75), who placed importance on human connection and the role of internal intuition. As Hepworth once noted, ‘I rarely draw what I see – I draw what I feel in my body.’ Borland chose to create sculptures that represent the interior, empty spaces of five sculptures by Hepworth, including Wave 1943-4, held in the SGMA collection.
Edition 2 of 3, Collection, National Galleries of Scotland, purchased with the lain Paul Fund 2017. With grateful thanks to The Hepworth Foundation.
Extract, wall text NOW 3, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art
research process
To make Positive Pattern, the interior cavities of five Barbara Hepworth sculptures were laser-scanned and the resulting data was translated into 3-D computer renders. The virtual images were then transformed into physical, foam sculptures using a CNC router; a computer-controlled cutting machine more commonly found in the production of prototypes or ‘patterns’ for manufacturing. The display cases in which Borland’s five sculptures are held were designed to sit at specific heights that correspond with different organs of the body: for example, the brain or the heart. These unfathomable new structures suggest futuristic forms with a function, which is not yet fully apparent to us.
The relevance of looking to future technologies was developed in conversations with trainee doctors and medical students, many of whom expressed their hope that, based on advances in bio-technology, replacement organs grown from the patient’s own tissues could soon supersede the need for donated organs. These considerations led to the use of contemporary reproduction and visualisation methods and materials to represent this very particular, present moment: organ donation is all that is currently available to us but radical change in the field is imminent through the use of methods linked to new bio-technologies.
An initial, exploratory one-off piece was produced for Borland’s solo exhibition Divine Imperfect 2012, at the Pier Arts Centre in Stromness, Orkney in response to the Hepworth work in the Pier collection, Oval Sculpture, 1943.
