cobbin bloggin': Unit 4 Commission

Unit 4 Yoga & Natural Health Centre, Brighton

I was asked to make a painting for studio1 to cover what was once a hatch between two rooms. The dimensions and situation of the piece were determined – approx 100cm x 140cm, otherwise I was given free rein with the work.

Initially I thought I would paint it as a mural in situ, but realised that the studio is too busy for that, and I therefore cut a piece of MDF to size, and have had it on my easel, on and off, for the past six months.

This was my first commission and site specific piece of work, and was a more challenging project than I envisaged. The main challenge was my familiarity with the studio, I’ve taught a yoga class there for the past several years. I am aware of how the room is lit by sun and artificial light and how the painting is likely to be seen from the yoga mat at varying angles in the room. All of this is a help and a hindrance – the hindrance, my self consciousness and concern about how the painting would be received by Pete, the commissioner of the work, and by the numerous students. I found it difficult to bracket this information and just paint, I kept wondering how it would look in situ and whether it would be liked. Each Monday at my yoga class I would look at the space and try to imagine the painting there.

Over the months it has had many, many coats of paint. Many attempts to create something that would sit well in the studio and not appear incongruent with the nature of Unit 4. It had layers of floating colour – very Rothko-esque but not right, it had drips and misty colours with circles floating – very lily pad Monet, definitely not right, it was taken into the garden and sloshed with calligraphic marks and shed loads of water, but still it wasn’t right and I feared all the water would warp the MDF. Eventually I settled on an abstracted anatomical theme and predominantly monotone colour scheme.

The result is called Acetabulum which was installed yesterday with the help of Richard and Peter M with the drill and hammer and lots of support that all would be well and look fantastic. Hoorah! It hadn’t warped too much and was easily fixed in place. A smaller series of five works to complement Acetabulum have been made for the hallway, and were also hung yesterday.