Rising main

Opening Date: 2004-Sep-28
Closing Date: 2004-Oct-16
Rising Main was developed for the Bonnington Gallery. In a desire to continue to invent systems for painting that expose a process and minimise physical involvement this new system shifts away from the earlier 'Painting Machines' into a fascination with domestic plumbing. Rising Main took its name from the pipe that supplies cold water to a house. Using a DIY manual as reference a plumbing system was devised to make paintings. A header tank, conventionally used to store water in a domestic system was filled with 15 gallons of white emulsion paint. Using a standard heating pump, the paint was pumped through copper pipes around a fabricated domestic scale space within the gallery. Panels that were hung in the space were effectively painted by the plumbing system's process. The gallery became a site for production as layer after thin layer of paint dripped in lines from taps onto the surface of the panels. The work ended when the pump seized, the blocked system a record of its own production.

A pocket notebook style journal ISBN 1-84233-047-0 was published to co-inside with the exhibition. The notebook contains working drawings and charts the development of the painting machines through to the plumping system. The emphasis was placed on revealing the process of construction by recording conversations with tradesmen, detailing quotes from hardware stores and including notes scribbled from DIY manuals.