Paul Carter Hotel, 2009 (work in progress)
In 2008, Robin Klassnik invited Paul Carter to transport his workspace to the gallery in an attempt to recreate the conditions of the studio in flux. In June 2009 the artist moved in and has been working in residence towards his first exhibition at Matt’s Gallery.
Hotel is a sculptural installation that disrupts the architectural features of the gallery, incorporating elements that have been transplanted from the artist’s studio or reclaimed from other sites. Found materials – including a derelict goods lift and a series of day beds that look like renaissance icons – are re-crafted to explore notions of value and function. Resembling a life-size architect’s model, the installation includes a series of compartments and fixtures that echo the commercial or private buildings from which the materials have been salvaged, suggesting an expanded ‘elsewhere’ beyond the gallery walls.
Hotel is a transitory place: a temporary home or live-work space that sets up a new relationship between the individual and the objects and architectures that surround him. Transferring material elements and pre-existing works from the studio and elsewhere becomes an extension of the acts of editing, layering and containment that take place in the original sites. Reminiscent of Kurt Schwitters’ Merzbau, where sculptural and architectural interventions spill over from one place to another, Hotel extends the artist’s practice beyond the notionally private space of the home or studio.
Paul Carter, "Hotel" at Matts gallery
9 September–1 November 2009
