1big1 | 2020 | Pewter
Made during the first Covid-19 UK lockdown of 2020, 1big1’s metal hashtag forms recall the crude lead crosses produced across Europe during the Black Death and subsequent epidemics.
Making these felt like a reasonable successor; something tactile, to make, to hold on to for some sort of transformative, productive, protective activity. It felt early on that, as much of the world stopped holding, touching and speaking in person, we were all looking immediately to online networks and intersections for communication, delivery and deliverance.
The moulds were carved from beech and pine chopping boards, Welsh birch logs and some axe-split willow from next door’s tree. The pewter, from antique Sheffield tankards, is melted in a tomato tin on a small wood fire. It’s mostly low-grade, and has some lead in it as a result – it’s only relatively recently it’s any ‘safer’ than it was in the bronze age. It was odd to have an extra reason for wearing masks and washing hands at a time when I was too anxious to leave the house.
The works were described by a friend as an imagining of rave fliers that might emerge in Russell Hoban’s Riddley Walker, which accounts for the title, alluding to a cataclysmic global event as much as a big night out. They have been exhibited as part of other artworks and contexts, but remain individual, unique works.
Much of my work is based on ancient apotropaic (protective) markings and prelinguistic signs at prehistoric sites, while others learn from premodern technologies, used then as now to assist collective activity or systems of belief and understanding. These works are a conscious rejection of ‘the new normal’ in favour of ‘older abnormals’: times when those who came before us felt a need for creation, connection and protection beyond the immediately tangible.
Born in Coventry, Tom lives and works in London, combining a multidisciplinary studio and exhibition practice with teaching in Fine Art and Sculpture. He is a Fellow of the HEA, and alongside his technical role at the Royal College of Art he has recently worked as a Visiting Lecturer for Leeds Arts University, and Vilnius Academy of Arts.
In 2015 Tom completed the Artquest Research Residency at the Foundling Museum, and joined the committee for DIY Space for London, following construction and opening of the cooperatively-run social centre. He was featured in the first St.Vincent European Art Prize and the Catlin Guide to emerging artists in 2013, and won the Workweek Prize for the solo presentation Augury at 38b Projects the same year. His work features in private collections throughout the UK and Europe.
@tom_railton
