Marion Coutts

INSTALLATION ET DESSIN
10.05–10.29.1995

In a tank of solution in high summer I made a crystalline dress. Once all the solution evaporates the crystals start to make both moisture and impurities from the air. A real sin-eater.

I started growing crystals from sulphates some years ago and the work I am showing at Galerie Clark is in a sense all linked to that. I am always drawn to the innate potential of raw stuffs, seeing something inherently precious there and wanting to root it out.

My chemistry is that of early school experiments where phenomena are perceived still flickering between science and magic. I remember learning about the laws which govern growth and being no less amazed.

The dress is jewelled by its own internal process, the slow congealing of form outside human intervention. Yet if it were soaked, the crystals would vanish leaving the garment bare. A Cinderella shift transformed on the stroke of midnight.

I never separate my constructed work from the linear mechanisms of drawing. I like to show them together, seeing drawing as a highly direct and flexible medium. The drawings at Galerie Clark coine from an on-going series called Databank.

Marion Coutts is an artist and performer who lives in London. This exhibition is financially supported by The British Council.