Sculptures can be made by modeling, carving or placing materials together. I think it gives another dimension to the work to use scrap cardboard packaging which has been thrown away after the coveted objects it contained have been removed.Think of sculptures are having 3 dimensions. I guess it’s about trying to be as honest as possible with the material- I don’t want it to get too clean, so you can’t see what it really is. I like the idea of concentrating on the material in its “natural state” and playing with the idea of these beautiful objects represented with a material from the waste basket. The works I am producing now are made from cardboard boxes which are still found on the street, but which show all the printing, tape, labels etc. What relationship is there between the artwork and the type of packaging you use?Įarlier works were made with very clean cardboard because I was aiming at a hyper-realistic effect which showed the material “at its best”, or rather seemed to do something impossible with it, making a perfect representation- indeed, many people assumed that the works were real objects that had been painted or covered in paper. The ordinariness of the actions associated with these objects causes the viewer to unthinkingly act out the gesture associated with it- to type, or to open the car door- and it is this contradiction between the seeming functionality of the objects and the fact that in reality they are “fake”, this peculiar conceptual short circuit, which increases the bewildering effect of the works and lets us into a poetry of pure plastic forms. All the objects have an uncanny power to provoke a sensation of attraction and a desire to interact in the viewer. They offer a blank canvas upon which the viewer can project their own memories or experiences, recalling collective perceptions or the gestures and the rituals of daily life.
These objects are always carefully chosen for their evocative and conceptual power, for the potential for mnemonic narration that they contain. These are however all based on objects we have all experienced first hand- a typewriter, a car, a bicycle, a wheelchair. Gilmour’s work includes stunning virtuoso life-size objects, as well as cruder and more essential reproductions, sometimes left at a stage that calls to mind drafts or models.
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