Isobel Davis-Gray

Always Pushing Sand

Process is my positioning,

When making there is no intention to produce a final outcome, here you are positioned among the tools, processes and products of a practice. The sculptural process of my practice sits at the core of this work, documented in the tools, sand and casting. The process becomes the work, and the objects hold memories of actions and events that took place. The material outcomes are ready at any point to once again change. As the metal flows from the crucible to the soft sand, it is not directed, instead it is given agency to layer and flow as it chooses. The work begins at the collection and making point of the first materials till the last drop of gas ending the final pour, this beginning and end is not seen as a stop to the project but as a pause due to the cyclical nature of the work.

Material is memory,

The sand and Aluminium once existed differently in their original form and in past projects. The Aluminium has changed over and over again, once flat and reflective, now coarse yet fluid, the material is constantly in motion, holding new forms from iteration to iteration. At each casting location the sand bed is laid and here it collects the debris of the cast and the site; plaster, slag, leaves, soil, shell. By collecting remnants from every location adding a sense of place to each material.

Ritual,

I load, I unpack, I lug, I light, I observe, I melt, I burn, I collect I clamp, I lift, I position, I release, I pour, and begin to repeat.