Sarah Forrest’s practice has explored the potential within language to shape her own and other people’s perception of things – be this a place, person, object or artwork. During the MFA programme, Forrest created a series of works that positioned her voice, as the artist, in relation to a number of sculptural objects she created and exhibited; the work hovering somewhere between fact and fiction. Her personal philosophy for making art asks what if? Or sometimes just why not? The work she makes is not usually tied to any one medium but her use of narrative has been consistent.
For Tall Tales Forrest will be showing a recently completed work The Pot (2015) which represents the artists urge to return to working with the sculptural form; the most basic of materials – clay.
For the Rochdale and Glasgow leg of the tour the artist will also be showcasing a new work (supported by the Glasgow Visual Arts Award), entitled Recital.
About two months ago the artist started learning a drum solo (Led Zeppelin’s Moby Dick, the live version performed at the Royal Albert Hall, London, 1970). Sarah did not know how to play the drums and so began with online tutorials, followed by five one-hour lessons with a trained jazz drummer. She practiced for three hours per week in a rehearsal studio and daily on books, cushions and on her knees at home and in the studio, documenting this learning process in both video and writing. Recital began with a desire to let go of theory in order to think through the relationship between knowing and feeling, asking if one can know what they feel then can they feel what they know? By breaking down an improvised moment beat by beat in order to replicate it, her aim was not to master the solo but to draw from this bodily experience, exploring what happens at the periphery, in order to play out and perform these concerns.
Recital will bring together moving image, writing and sculpture, with the format (single screen/installation) remaining open, to be determined by the editing process and gallery space. The writing that currently runs alongside this work looks specifically at an improvised moment, playing with ideas of being in and out of character, or in and out of control. For more information about Sarah Forrest’s work click here.
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