Plasticine Cave for Spring Studios

I made this installation for Spring Studios Gallery a few years ago, I stumbled on these pictures whilst flicking through the many unnamed files on my hard drive and thought it would be an interesting thing to revisit. 

As with a lot of my projects for initial idea is very immediate, 'How about a Plasticine cave!?' I'd never seen plasticine used in huge quantities before and thought it would be wonderful to make a claustrophobic structure out of the stuff. I remember I wanted to make an enviroment that made you feel a little strange and uneasy.

The installation consisted of 2 thousands gawking faces sculpted out of almost 3 tonnes of white plasticine. Heres a little review I found that describes the piece far more eloquently than I can - 'Gary Card creates a dramatic entrance to the exhibition via a huge cave-like environment constructed out of white Plasticine, the interior walls consisting of individual naive face formations, is reminiscent of the Sedlec Ossuary (Kostnice), in Kutna Hora * with a comical twist. Stark artificial lighting illuminates the interior in contrasts to the works’ malleable surface, creating an experience, which is both fantastical and edgy. Cards’ trademarks, his use of colour and texture, which employ an unbridled aesthetic that utilizes a combination of visual mediums and aesthetics, are some of the elements evident in this piece, which marks the beginning of a special series of unique custom made pieces for interior spaces.' 

One of the interesting, though not necessarily welcome surprises from the experience was the overwhelming smell of the plasticine, the massive quantity of the material meant the whole bottom floor of Spring studios reeked of the stuff, it had an unmistakable odour that seemed to trigger a sort of great noxious nostalgia in you, almost like being choked with your own childhood.

 I just wish I made more of a fuss telling people about it, at the time of its construction I was so involved in tirelessly sculpting the thousands of little faces that I neglected to invite anyone to come and see it. oh well, live and learn.