These squares show a small part of a large work that I have designed to cover an 18 metre long hospital corridor, from floor to ceiling on both sides. The squares illustrate the design process in 15 stages - a process that is interesting to me because of the way it shows the design developing, and that is unlike a traditional work in progress piece that illustrates the stages of making.
15 stages in the design of one square, from floor to ceiling, taken from the centre of the design. The solid band 2/3rds down represents the crash rail.
This is a commission for a public place with many interested parties involved in the discussion about the artwork. So not all the decisions to alter or add things are mine - which is as it should be. Colours were changed completely, geometry was reduced to a minimum, detail and texture were introduced, and the interpretation of the given theme, which was ‘nature’, ended up more pastoral than patterned. There are lots of things - and echoes of things - that have to be avoided when you’re making work for a space as sensitive as the approach to a mortuary.
15 stages in the design of another square, from floor to ceiling, taken from the end of the design.
However there are discarded aspects of the design that I miss - the sharp straight lines to contrast with the ovals that went after square 4: the empty spaces in square 5: the simple patterns in square 6. I made paper models of some of the stages to help us look at the design - below are the versions that include squares 4 and 15. The design will be printed on to PVC panels and installed in the corridor soon. Fingers crossed.
