SHED/SHED - FINBAR WARD
SHED/SHED
Finbar Ward
Vernissage, Tuesday 9th October 2018
October 10 - November 30 2018
Press release
comunicato stampa
Pressetext
Shed, a simple roofed structure used for garden storage, probably deriving from the word shade; to shed, to cast off, come off, allow to fall to the ground.
Finbar Ward (b.1990), the first artist in residence at Galleria Doris Ghetta, spent the first two weeks of his time in Ortisei locating and documenting the structures created to house and protect log piles in the area. Ward was immediately absorbed by the individual approaches to these constructed shelters. Positioned proudly on the porch or in the garden, parked on the roadside or hidden in the woods, covered by corrugated iron or tarpaulin held down by rocks, these structures contain and conserve wood in all its variable, heaping forms. The care and respect given to the region’s traditionally symbolic material appears in unique approaches that suggest the hand of the maker and the structure’s immediate surroundings; Whether that be a familial, domestic influence, a robust, purposeful design or a polished, tourist facing aesthetic, each form is unparalleled.
Ward’s practice has long been focused on the non hierarchical use of material and much of this material exploration is seen in essential details of his work being made up of salvaged detritus from the studio floor. As an emblem of process, failure and decisions made, Ward treats the ‘off-cut’ with as much consideration as his intended result.
Throughout this residency, Ward has created a new body of work in which he has combined his interest in the surrounding systems for wood storage with his appreciation for the studio scraps that get swept aside. Founded in a series of observational drawings, Ward has designed and built structures to store and protect waste that he has collected from the studios and workshops of artists and makers in the area.
Shed/ Shed presents Ward’s appreciation of the skilled and beautiful woodwork crafted locally and communicates his shared respect for the material that shapes Ortisei, through the collection and protection of fragments that fell to the ground.
Rosie Reed