In their subsequent work Dewar & Gicquel examine how craftsmanship (artisanship) distinguishes itself from the medium.
Approaching sculpture as a craft, an art means “creating sculptures” whereas considering sculpture as a medium involves questioning the discipline’s conventions. Dewar & Gicquel do both. On the one hand they use the traditional methods that are associated with craftsmanship, i.e. carving stone and wood, clay modelling, weaving and working with ceramics. On the other hand, they also exhibit a keen conceptual awareness of the medium as such, reflecting on what is and could be sculpture.
‘Just what is it that makes Dewar & Gicquel's work so different, so appealing? Their multiform process walks a fine line between the sublime and the ridiculous. It is permeated by visual hyperbole; everything is overstated and simultaneously left unsaid. This is part of an approach they describe as “experimental simplicity.” Whether carving a life-sized motorcyclist in clay, naked except for his helmet, or weaving mock Peruvian tapestries and presenting them with oversized panpipes, Dewar & Gicquel take delight in breaking the rules of what is an acceptable subject for sculpture. They revel in the kitsch, in the grotesque, in flirting with bad taste, taking pleasure – for example – in presenting melted ceramics together with a tapestry gibbon in the pristine space of their Paris gallery.’ - Zoë Gray (2012)
The work is on loan to the museum until 1/1/2016