Tom Trusky Exhibition Cases
Special Collections Room at Bower Ashton Library
28th October - 12th December 2010
You know when something just happens and you know it's meant to be? One of those turning-points which is desperately needed? After having worked with discarded objects and found materials for a number of years I came across a thrown-out book, just lying there in the path. I took the same route to work for a few days to see if someone would come back and claim it, clean it, dry it and dust off its pages ready to resume its rightful place on a shelf somewhere. Nobody came for it. When I discovered the back cover laying in the grass several metres away I decided I'd come back and rescue it from an eventual, pulpy end.
So we went home, Book and I, and whilst Book dried out I had a think. Where on earth do I start? This object had so much to offer in terms of inspiration. How on earth would this find affect the work I was doing and would subsequently make? Profoundly, would be the answer to that question.
I have treated the books I have found in the same way as I would do the objects and spaces I've worked with previously; it is images found and the objects discarded which spark investigation, the spaces where buildings once were and structures which once had purpose. I travel almost exclusively by foot, using short-cuts of footpaths, cycle track, pavement and wasteland, and so am privileged to have a near-constant exposure to subject matter the opportunity to pass through little-known places. The visual discourse I find between the discarded entity, the location and its specifics, and the journey taken by myself is explored as sensitively as possible; with the medium of drawing taking a central role in the investigation. Often I involve physical elements of discarded objects or materials in question, incorporating them in to the drawings, thus setting up yet another discourse to be explored.
Book now has a place on my shelf. Apart from being cleaned and dried, Book is untouched. A fragile way-marker pinpointing a change in trajectory. Other books have been found and used more readily; each throwing up more questions, considerations and inspirations. I hope the questions aren't easily solved; I'm enjoying the process of searching for answers
sevenbillionsparrows@hotmail.co.ukback