Unfortunately, I seem to have lost the photograph I took of the broken exercise equipment Tim Doud handed in for repair. I will therefore try to describe it in such a way that you will see it before your inner eye, for you to better imagine the transformation that then took place. Ok, here goes:

Unfortunately, I seem to have lost the photograph I took of the broken exercise equipment Tim Doud handed in for repair. I will therefore try to describe it in such a way that you will see it before your inner eye. Ok, here goes:

Two thick, round rubber tubes, one of them black and the other greyish pink. The greyish one in two parts, connected via a weird cheap plastic nut of sorts and some black nylon bands. Both the greyish and the black tube had a handle attached to one end, the one on the black tube being severely chewed up by a dog, and the handles being slightly different in style and construction, I had to assume that the two tubes had originally constituted two separate resistance bands which after having broken had been combined into one, until, alas, they broke again. They were presented in a jumble, and my first impression was that they had indeed been part of the same instrument of self discipline, a theory which, as I mention above, I abandoned after having untangled the tubes and bands and seen that they were of slightly different design. As a whole they were slight and insignificant, a bit useless looking, without a clear purpose, but at a same time, they held an air of nastiness. This is a bit hard to explain. Why would I see exercise rubber tubes as nasty? Maybe it was their heavily worn down state. Maybe it was the dog chewing them up. Maybe they reminded me, especially in their excessively worn down state, of the urge to punish and discipline ones body, while at the same time, they most of all looked like something you would use to tie someone up and gag them. Suffice it to say, had I glanced them lying around on the floor in the back of someone’s car, I would have definitely declined a ride.

These associations to self discipline and bodily rigour was only part of my inspiration for the sculpture though. Just the week before, Tim had showed me his studio and the series of paintings he was working on for the moment. Tim being a very accomplished figurative painter, it was quite exciting to see the direction his new series was taking. At first impression they looked like very formal, like colour field painting, with beautiful combinations of lines and shades that just captivated my eyes. They were, however, abstract rather than formalist, in that they took their starting point in real life. In this case the elaborately thought out and composed textile patterns of designer shirts. Using these patterns, but without making them clearly recognisable as such, means Tim could engage his audience in a discussion about fashion, status and recognition, without having to clearly state this. So, of course, my imagination was already primed with the idea of shirts when I started work on Tim’s sculpture.

An example of Tim’s work, PSK (Lt Blue), 68×56 inches, 2015.

I wanted my reinterpretation of Tim’s rubber tubes to retain not just a bit of the nastiness I myself couldn’t help but seeing in them, but I also wanted to anchor it firmly within the concerns of Tim’s own art practice. The very solid wooden hanger I made for the tubes is much too large for a coat or shirt, and also so sturdy that you could easily hang from it. The idea of tying someone up in the back of a car, I turned around into the self inflicted discipline of keeping ones body buff through tormenting it with machines and exercise equipment. Since I can’t help assuming a vaguely sexual motive behind wanting a strong body when one doesn’t get it from or need it for  the work one does every day, I also let that image silently slide along. The status anxiety and fashion awareness that Tim analyse in his own work got it’s home in the stylish design of the hanger itself, and last but not least in the title. My assistant that day, postgrad student Yar Koporulin, rendered it beautifully in a style that revealed it’s obvious kinship with that famous London department store which I had added accidentally and unconsciously. Famous for it’s selection of designer brands by the way.