Paul Malone PlasmaWorks Catalogue 2009 www.a2arts.co.uk/malone
About the art works :
My art as a whole is most easily classed as ‘wall sculpture’ although this covers a range of techniques from extended installations to digital movies and machined artefacts. With the early work there was an intention to assemble works from completely imagined materials. These would be generated through art processes that alluded substantiation through the optical presence of their surfaces. I’ve gained a great deal from researching lost or unfashionable scientific theories, especially in the realm of astronomy. It is fair to say that I am attracted to concepts that are contrarian, non-conformist or against the mainstream.
My current interest (2009) is in Plasma Cosmology, which describes the morphology of the universe through the agency of electricity, the forgotten physics of Walter Ritz’ Light Ballistic Theory (1912), the superpositional universe of Ernst Mach and the galactic gemmation of Arp and Ambartsumian. This has proved a fascinating journey and a revelation in terms of the imaginative possibilities it opens up. The series of sculptures and installations associated with this thread come within the remit of ‘Cosmological Conceits’ or attempts to describe the cosmic and sublime in terms of assemblages of the commonplace.
Practicality The Perspex (Plexiglas) works in this catalogue are made as ‘sandwiches’ of clear and coloured layers with cut-outs and embedded items. The layers are bolted together using nickel ‘hex’ bolts flush with the surface. These form part of the hanging arrangement that spaces the piece about 4 cms from the wall. The work is hung from a separate perspex bar that is mounted on the wall using white nylon spacers and mirror disc head screws. Optional nuts can be added to the rear of the bar for security. Under specific lighting (i.e.halogen) light transmits through the piece and falls in colours and patterns of shadow on the wall. The edges of the works are sanded to a diffuse finish to generalise the internal reflections. From sunlight to multi-spots, all these properties change as the lighting source is altered.
They can be hung as individual self-consistent works or as ‘constellations’ that occupy a pattern across the wall. They are particularly suited to locations where the look of the existing wall needs to be retained - i.e. architect designed interiors. Below are a selection of possible types for sale and to act as examples for commissions. Individual works and constellations can however be commissioned to different specifications and concepts. The installations are site specific and utilise ‘povera’ materials - plastic roofing sheet, worked CDs, vending cups, children’s milk straws, etc. in line with the pragmatic aspirations of the concept. These pieces can be adapted to respond to any installation space.
Pink Ion Waterfall 01-2008
Perspex, french enamel, lead splashes, silver powder, fixtures 100 x 25 x 8 cms overall : 2008
This is a vertical four layer inclined perspex sandwich. Layer 3 is perspex painted with occasional silver powder brush strokes and silver-pink evaporationn dots. Layer 2 has large horizontal and oblique dynamic lead solder splashes that interact, one from another. The piece has two wave outlines, top and bottom, that act like the boundaries of an electric Langemuir sheath. In between, the painted layer and solder splashes respond as if cascading down an electric waterfall. The silver pink dots and the solder splashes react as if bouncing against the sides of an invisible container in their descent.
The ‘K’ Effect Installation with 200 plastic vending cups Primavera WG, Atelier WG. 2007
Continuing his series of ‘cosmological conceits’ Paul Malone has installed, across the gallery wall, a drift of plastic vending cups that emulate the pathways of a plasma discharge in Space. Their ice blue colour hints, paradoxically, at their recent ultraviolet origin and the ‘K’ effect of anomalous blue-shift as they aquire mass
Electric Rain Dot Unit 01-2006 Perspex, lead solder, french enamel, silver powder, fixtures. 25 x 25 x 8 cms : 2006
A four layer perspex sandwich with negative curved outline and dots of spirit dye arranged in a grid-like array. An arrangement of five lead splashes on layer 2 counterpoints the four hex bolts of the piece.
This unit recalls the retinal impact of photons of light, their after images and simple shadows in the memory. The whole is experienced again as a machined artifact.
Plasma Rainbow Stream Plastic roofing sheet, worked CDs, fixtures and lights 1000 cms x 45 cms diameter. London 2003
‘Plasma Rainbow Stream’ is an illuminated installation piece for the ‘Colourspace’ show in London in 2003. The piece is composed of two tubes, made from blue corrugated roofing sheet, enclosing twelve prepared CD’s that reflect and refract the light entering from the centre. The reflections change to create transient volumes of spectral colours as the viewer passes underneath. Positioned high in the gallery, the piece seeks to emulate, in common everyday materials, the effects of electric plasma currents that run through the galaxy and illuminate the stars.
This is a four layer inclined perspex sandwich. Layer 3 is in ice-blue translucent perspex and layer 2 has large horizontal and oblique lead solder splashes that interact one from another. Inclined as if flowing water, the piece cascades both in its topmost wave form but also electrically in the gemmated relationships of the inserts on layer 2. The blue perspex is dotted with evaporation rings of spirit dye that increasingly lose focus as they increase in size.
Electric Blue Wave 01-2007 Perspex, blue translucent perspex, french enamel, lead splashes, silver powder, fixtures 100 x 25 x 8 cms overall : 2007
Blue Z-Pinch Installation with 500 blue plastic drinking straws. Illuminated with ultra-violet light. 2.5 high x 2 x 2 mtrs. 2008 Parma ‘Objects / Rooms’ Exhibition curated by Gianluca Ferrari and Silvia Scaravaggi
This is a further example of my occasional series of ‘cosmological conceits’. The piece is composed of about 500 blue plastic drinking straws locked end to end and ‘pinched’ onto the wall. The top is allowed to arch out from the wall and the bottom hangs loosely with the straw lines crossing over. This piece emulates the pathways of an electrical discharge in Space.
The Synaptic Sun (movie) A herd of genetically engineered cattle visit the surface of the Sun ŠPaul Malone 2006 (re-edited 2009) | 08:41
Aphrodite Urania (movie) A cosmological conceit re-visiting Venus, Velikovsky and planetary orbits. ŠPaul Malone 2009 | 09:59
Anode Unit 01-2006 Perspex, lead solder, french enamel, silver powder, fixtures. 25 x 25 x 8 cms : 2006 A four layer perspex sandwich with negative curved outline. Layer 3 contains evaporation rings of spirit dye with dissolved silver powder. On layer 2 there is an arrangement of four lead splashes in an energetic and interactive arrangement. The left hand splash is fissioning, having ejected the other 3, and is gemmating a further disk which it part hides. Electric filaments and metallic streamers point along the trails of ejection in this cosmological nativity scene. This unit recalls the retinal impact of photons of light during an astronomical observation. The whole is experienced again as a machined artifact.
Cathode Unit 01-2006 Perspex, lead solder, french enamel, fixtures 25 x 25 x 8 cms : 2006 A four layer perspex sandwich with negative curved outline. Layer 3 is painted with an array of evaporation rings containing silver powder. This layer also incorporates a disc with an array of rust coloured denser evaporation rings as if glimpsing the telescopic view of an electrically active anode surface. An arrangement of four lead splashes on layer 2 counterpoints the four hex bolts of the piece. This unit recalls the retinal impact of photons of light during an astronomical observation. The whole is experienced again as a machined artifact.
Electric Blue Pool 01-2007 Perspex, french enamel, lead splashes, silver powder, fixtures 75 x 50 x 8 cms : 2007
This is a four layer inclined perspex sandwich. Layer 3 is spotted with iceblue evaporation rings and layer 2 has large horizontal and oblique lead solder splashes that interact one from another. Inclined as if flowing water, the piece cascades both in its topmost wave form but also electrically in the gemmated relationships of the inserts on layer 2. The evaporation rings of spirit dye and silver powder are ringed in microscopic arrangements of concentrated blue colour as if caught in a 56 / 28x2 Birkeland current arrangement.
Pink Z-Pinch 01-2008 Perspex, french enamel, lead splashes, silver powder, fixtures 100 x 25 x 8 cms overall : 2008
This is a four layer inclined perspex sandwich. Layer 3 is perspex painted with silver powder from a string under tension. Layer 2 has large horizontal and oblique dynamic lead solder splashes that interact one from another. The piece has a waist in the centre to which the painted layer and solder splashes respond. Oblique circles of silver pink dots extend the piece visually into a cylinder which is echoed in the curves at each end. The solder splashes rotate upwards (right) and downwards (left) as if around an invisible origin.
Electric Pleides 01-2006
Photos and Design Copyright Paul Malone 2009 www.a2arts.co.uk/malone