Aidan Duffy
After the Function
October 14th 2023 – November 18th 2023
From: Aidan Duffy xxxxxxxdfdfffg
Date: Sun, 8 Sep 2023 at 15:26
Subject:
To: <info@243luz.com>
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Dear ed&diego
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the title came from a previous work called after the function where it’s two bowl casts dressed up in pink lamé and ice cubes dangling i thought it would be an interesting starting point for a show.. the usage of defunct/trashed once functional objects given a different life which is all of my work basically and then playing with that idea with partying and human connection, and then also ‘after’ in the sense that it is sort of a celebration to dysfunctional objects as I suppose once an object doesn’t do what its intended use is it therefore has no value in society… was also thinking a lot about liz magor making this past week. there was an interesting visual narrative between going out anddysfunctional that made sense but couldn’t find the words lol.. when i started to make the work for the show it suddenly started to be more about loneliness and thinking about these dead objects as humans functioning for moments at a time when they have to and then pulling back to solitary states when they don’t - facades expected by society, .. all of the work sort of embodying these states of trying their best to be something or simply in a state of inaction and thinking about how it’s believed something being dysfunctional or inactive is a bad thing and of no value but there is so much joy and beauty in that dysfunction and its a necessary state especially for humans and an inevitable state for everything has a life cycle, I guess all wrapped up in ideas around high functioning in society/capitalism blah blah
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it could also be seen as after the party as in the end of the world etc apocalypse which ppl love to make things about but that’s lame and don’t want it to be seen as that more about joy andconnection
but then also after in that way you’d say something was influenced by someone or something else, thinking about what is truly yours and when people don’t own ideas they own their energy
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Like for the window piece to me it’s giving a landscape of sorts through this gray grid then the foil tubing floating in the air and the light but also at the same time like when your high or trashed laying in bed staring at the ceiling it’s feels a bit like aiming for a state of contemplation or an experience like a lust for the human experience whether that’s the landscape for from what you can expect or can’t expect from connecting but then also it’s like coming out through this door/window or this opening of some sort..
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Then there’s blessed 1 which thinks about design a lot i was thinking about these bulkheads so undecorative and completely for function and how a lot of man made outside things are like that only decoration and made beauty can really exist where it can be protected from other humans/the climate etc, then this plug with wooden fruit going through the cable of electricity which is kind of a crude visual image of rising prices of food and energy and food=energy and thinking of both of those being commodities and symbols of wealth.. andthe epoxy clay sort of snaking around it to flirt at the idea of it being taken by this foreign entity the title comes from that really and also it’s a reference to BLESS the design studio which in 2005 did a cable jewellery line and used wooden fruit that’s where the idea initially came from i was like this is so interesting to recontextualise this because it’s saying so much but wasn’t intended for that reason or the reason i thought it was so interesting.
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Then there’s the standing work which tbh i don’t have much to say about it yet but i went into it wanting to create a sense of endurance and like shielding wearing fun outfit and then the pink sofa cast wall work which is upholstered in anti fly netting this one’s interesting cos it’s got all the parts of a sofa in it like the foam/leather/shape but absolutely not what u get from it thinking about that transference again where there’s connection but completely lost turned into something else
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idk if u can follow any of this was just kind of my mind rolling
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A
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Sent from my iPhone
Aidan Duffy
Sweet Lazy Life
2023
Jesmonite, Epoxy Resin, Epoxy Clay, Metal, Foil Tubing, LED Light Fixture, Pigment, Plastic, Paint
53 x 56 x 28cm
Aidan Duffy
Blessed 1
2023
Jesmonite, Epoxy Resin, Epoxy Clay, Plastic, Wood, Metal, Found Objects, Pigment, Fabric
32 x 43 x 25cm
Aidan Duffy
Dysfunctional Lamp
2023
Jesmonite, Epoxy Clay, Metal, Pigment, Fabric, Plastic, PVC, Cord, Paint
113 x 44 x 39cm
Aidan Duffy
À la Drive
2023
Jesmonite, Epoxy Clay, Wood, Metal, Pigment, Fabric, Acrylic, Cord, Rhinestone Fringing, Paint, Netting
47 x 43 x 29cm