Christopher Parkes

IMAGES FROM RESIDENCY

Artists in residence as part of Allotments: Nov 25th, 07 - Jan 27th, 08


Christopher Parkes is a graduate of Fine Art at Staffordshire University. He is a member of AirSpace studios, Stoke on Trent.

During his residency Parkes has worked on a durational piece that grew in response to the various stages of Allotments' curation, from its installation to its reconfiguration when toured to Long Eaton's town hall.

News!!

Christopher Parkes will be showing work in a group show in London:

Novas galleries, Just Desserts
Exhibition: 22 Feb – 22 Mar
Open: Mon - Sat 10:00am – 6.00pm FREE ENTRY

'Novas Arts presents Just Desserts, a thought-provoking exhibition to coincide with ‘Fair Trade Fortnight’, at the Contemporary Urban Centre - London Bridge Bankside.This exhibition will consider the poignant issue of 'fair trade’ in contemporary society. The works on show for one month offer an exciting opportunity to discuss alternative perspectives of fair trade themes. This will be a mixed media group exhibition, with photography and painting.'

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On 22nd February Staffordshire University Christopher Parkes gave a talk about his work, including how his residency has benefited his pracice.

Christopher Parkes was artist in residence in Standing Room during 'Allotments'. His practice has recently involved working in the role of 'caretaker' of a 15ft x 15ft landscape within his studio. However, for 'Allotments' he has scaled-down to a miniature - 15" x !5" piece entitled 'Grassed Site', which was developed and spread-out in response to the various stages of the exhibition's curation.

Chris Parkes, 'Grassed Territory', photographed January 2008

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Christopher Parkes - on his work:

" My time-based works have utilized a child's bubble machine, a music box mechanism, a cascade of buttons, celebratory candles and a puddle of ink.In the most successful pieces the audience becomes apprehensive as they encounter this inventory of the mundane. It is not the objects that create the suspense, but the narrative repercussions that they embody. A photograph, 'Droplet' depicting a puddle of water demonstrates this; the mark is evidence of an action, which happened so recently , that it is still wet. The viscosity enables the domed droplet to act as a lens, which is on the cusp of absorbing the space encompassing it."

Christopher Parkes, 'Bubble', 2007Christopher Parkes, 'Grass', 2007Christopher Parkes, 'Night', 2007

" Over the past weeks I have been tending to a reconstructed section of landscape within my studio space. This 15ft x 15ft site requires constant maintenance to preserve its evidential quality as a sampled site. The daily ritual of watering the plot that I have set up in my studios demonstrates the obsessive nature of the role of the caretaker. Whereby without my fostering presence the site would succumb. This task of sustaining the site has become something of an alternate occupation. This is a key characteristic not only for this piece, but for my practice as an artist, I become immersed within the whole process of production. This miniature landscape has its own microclimate, regularly producing surpluses e.g. fairy rings, mini-landslides and infestations of midges. This work was conceived as an installation piece, however the idea relating to the period between witnessing an event and subsequently retrieving that memory has become important. The grassed territory has become almost self-determining, providing numerous opportunities for both video and photography works."