Here’s the first shot from my new story ‘Sweet Relief’ for the latest issue of
@luncheonmagazine -
‘By the time this story comes out it will be 30 years since I started creating work with masking tape, three decades of cultivating this peculiar sculpting method into sculptures, sets, masks, headpieces and costumes for the likes of Comme Des Garcons, FKA Twigs and Lady Gaga, to name a couple. But surely there’s a better, more practical way of making things? Nope! For whatever reason, not for me.
There’s an unyielding defiance to the building process that I seem to be attracted to, willing this stubborn sticky paper into shapes it doesn’t want to be shaped into. It’s fiddly and frustrating work, and yet I’m compelled to carry on. The material doesn’t even like me,
I use so much of the stuff that the adhesive glue builds up a residue on my hands, reacting with my skin and thickening my fingertips into calloused caps, making everything I touch for the next month feel unbearable, it’s not painful or anything, it just gives me the ick, and yet I persist. I know I should move on and explore new methods, it’s not like I haven’t tried, I’ve sculpted with everything from polystyrene to chewing gum, just last year I spent 3 months in Jingdezhen, the ceramic capital of China, on a residency creating my first series of ceramic sculptures, And yet no matter how much I develop my sculpting practices, I always come back to my beloved tape. So to hell with it, I guess I’ll keep moving on with my awkward union. and if i will persist on ruining my hands for this work then the work itself better be worth it. I’ll let you be the judge. ‘
Images by me
With development, loving support and exquisite dusting by
@jason_zhangy
Photo assistance and lighting by
@samuel_stephenson_
Massive thank you Frances and Luncheon giving me the space to create this story
