A Sign of the Times...

Back in the room with an object, in two halves, found & pointed-out this very morning by A - thus what follows is very much a collaborative effort, inspired by - & considered to be a thing of beauty, as one may observe it indeed is.
Deprived by whatever divisive circumstances (which of course suggests some form of narrative) of its intended & usual informational function, more probably unnoticed other than occasionally on a need-to-know basis, the object/s is/are thus liberated to be regarded in more (or, in these parts, purely) aesthetic terms, as form, material (organic & manufactured) & surfaces, colour, pattern & patina.



The wood of the plank-composed standing board – a substantial modular object - bears the traces of its evolution-as-natural process & note too the dribbles of paint that have occurred during protective staining, for that additional little ‘arty’ touch.
The metal plate, its previously concealed reverse revealed, becomes a thing particularly transformed, its surface reflecting the nearby wooden support to which it was formerly attached & the blue of the sky overhead, whilst the embossed text, reversed &, in this view as encountered, upside down, can now be read rather as a subtle element of design, shapes (unfamiliar) & decoration, an altogether more interesting visual experience.

As is habitual, one visual thing contextually suggests another: a memorial might be a more obvious comparison but in this instance the integral presence of music is drawn into the mix, as the metal plate evokes recollection of a couple of record sleeves, specifically those housing the original vinyl issues of the 7” version of New Order’s debut single ‘Ceremony’, copper-coloured & embossed, & their later LP ‘Brotherhood’, featuring an inscription in a brushed metal surface…