Gold Run 2012
Head of David Rushbrook: 100x125x150cm
In 2012 I was commissioned to be part of Gold Run – a collaborative project between Pallant House Gallery, Carousel, David Rushbrook and Glyndebourne Opera House. This coincided with the Paralympic events in London during 2012. I created a large-scale cardboard portrait of the disabled opera singer David Rushbrook. Photographer Andrew Hood documenting the whole creation process. The cardboard sculpture of David was designed as a figurehead giving out words of wisdom to the performers on the stage. Projected imagery of David singing was shown on top of the sculpture. This was showcased on the stage at Glyndebourne Opera House, Chichester Festival and Brighton Festival Theatre. The combination of the two elements gave the portrait the ability to sing on stage with a choir of learning disabled performers from Carousel and a live band.
Gold Run: Remix 2012
Sizes: Athlete 110x127x88cm and track installation at Dilston Grove: 120x1500x500cm
Gold Run: Remix was an installation created with the support of CGP London and the International renowned sculptor Richard Wilson. Richard Wilson and Ron Henocq (Director of CGP London) mentored me during the Summer in 2012. During that time, we discussed translating an idea into a bigger venue. I decided to create a cardboard athlete to represent the Paralympic journey. It started as one piece of card, travelling from feet to head. The sculpture comes into focus with the head as the most detailed and complete part. The back of the sculpture has a grid like structure with gold leaf panels representing the desire to succeed against the categorisation of imposed definitions.
The first installation at Dilston Grove, London places the athlete on the starting blocks of a distorted running track with hurdles. The track curves upwards at the end and at the highest elevation there is an impossible hurdle to jump. The installation presents itself as a race that is not possible to finish. While designing the installation I was considering the idea of ‘what happens next?’ It references disability, art and sport… with the desire of overcoming significant social and cultural barriers. From Dilston Grove, a smaller version of the installation travelled to other venues, including: The Lightbox, Woking; Chapel Arts, Andover; and Pallant House Gallery, Chichester. These other spaces saw a smaller version of the installation. Richard Wilson helped with my ideas for reconfiguring the work for each venue.
James with sculptor and mentor Richard Wilson.
“I was invited to be a mentor for James while he installed his show in Dilston Grove back in 2012. We had never met but became immediately aware how inquisitive he was about the structural world around him and we spoke easily of the spacial conundrum he was hoping to build. Subsequent conversations whilst working together revealed an unusual ability to be utterly and uniquely himself yet capable of great osmosis into very diverse issues around his work. He was a proficient hard worker with great skills in working his chosen material of cardboard and no awkwardness in his handling of an idea. We had good fun back then realising his show and I wish him good luck for his future.”
Richard Wilson RA