TR&A (10,000 RPM)
sanded and varnished photograph, 2015,
3.4 x 5.1 meters
This artwork by Richard Galpin was commissioned for 240 Blackfriars, a new building by Stirling prize winning architects Allford Hall Monaghan Morris. The artwork responds to the development of the local area and the layering of marks upon architectural surfaces.
The artist begins by photographing the hoardings of building sites and other surfaces which show layered traces of accidental mark-making. He then works into the surface of the photograph with an electric orbital sander, removing areas of surface emulsion and grinding the powdered photographic dye back into the fibre of the paper. Horizontal and vertical textures are created by sanding with a sheet of plywood underneath the photograph – creating a kind of reverse rubbing or frottage effect. In this way the photographic information and this kind of mono-printing technique merge, creating a complex mix of physical and representational marks.
With this work Richard Galpin observes contrasting speeds of change within a proximate geographical area. The source photograph for this work is a storage unit for estate cleaners behind the Newington estate Tenants & Residents Association hall. This location is on the very edge of an area of intensive development, stretching from the City of London, down Blackfriars Rd, to the Elephant & Castle.
Image copyright: Richard Galpin & Hales Gallery, London. Benches by Jasper Morrison.