Event 

The Absent Figure

Monday 2 July, 2018 – Friday 6 July, 2018
10:00 AM – 5:00 PM

Corsham Court Basement Gallery, Corsham, SN13 0BZ

Bath School of Art and Design's Assistant Dean Dan Allen opens an exhibition showcasing his PhD artwork at Corsham Court's Basement Gallery on Monday 2 July. 

The Absent Figure presents Dan's practice-led research; "The Absent Figure: An analysis of the relationship between viewer, viewed, artist and material in figuration".

In ceramic objects, videos, and performance, the project explores the following questions:

  • How adjusting the hierarchical relationship between viewer, viewed and artist can enhance the level and intensity of viewer engagement.
  • Whether an emotive dynamic between audience and artwork might be enhanced by removing the figure, and whether objects can be ‘charged’ with a sense of absence. 

In recognition of the numerous ingredients integral to an artwork’s interpretation, Dan's experiments explore the significance of material and process (and the associations inherent in a material), the significance of memory (particularly childhood, in shaping how we respond to objects), the relationship between our lived body and objects (as laid out through Phenomenological theories), the significance of site (and its relation to objects), and Object relations theory (and the use of metaphor as replacement).

The exhibition opens Monday 2 July until Friday 6 July.