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Practical Mechanics
Gallery Press Release - page 1
Sept 2006
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For Ben Cove’s first solo show at Cell Project Space, he presents the work ‘Tall, Dark and Handsome’. Neatly wrapped skulls with rainbow striped woolen twine. The work can be read as a starting point for the exhibition as Cove’s choice of handmade material and intervention becomes a political gesture against the forces of ideological progress.
Cove’s newly commissioned work will involve hand crafting an oversized pantograph. The pantograph is a drawing instrument that has existed for centuries for the purpose of reproducing images. Though it exists in many states, the basic tool of four hinged arms can be used to copy 1:1, enlarge or reduce an original. Ben Cove’s interest in this tool stems from its function as an imprecise method of reproduction in that by tracing an image with a scriber the second image produced is a record of the users movements and consequently their errors. The copy that is produced is always an approximation or poor reproduction of the original.
Prosperous and self-satisfied after a decade of post-war reconstruction, architecture became part of the European tradition of a well-mannered practice that had absorbed the label Modernism. Cove has taken this starting point to challenge the power of ‘the manifesto’, particularly in its drawn form, questioning its desire to promote concepts and advance others' thinking. His pantographic reproductions of idealised, municipal buildings and plans add to the absurdity of a somewhat defunct attempt to radicalise people’s lives. Within Coves choice of context he focuses on the self-assured and ‘the universal style’ of illustrated 20th century design and architecture. Squares, rectangles and primary shape all carefully orchestrated with familiar linear perfection. With this monstrous tool Cove manages to create work that is as carefully structured as it is colossal in its mistake.
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