david batchelor: skip and brighton palermo remix at house 2012

‘skip’ by david batchelor, 2012 neon tube lighting and skip all images by bernard g mills and courtesy house 2012

david batchelor house 2012, brighton and hoves, england, UK on now until may 27th, 2012

british artist david batchelor has been commissioned to create two major works for brighton and hoves including ‘skip’ and ‘brighton palermo remix’. both illuminated sculptures have been developed to make bright this spring artists festival of the cloudy region.

typical to batchelor’s employment of the ready-made base to his luminescent sculptures, ‘skip’ takes its form from a garbage bin, or skip, reinvigorated with the addition of a string of yellow lighting highlighting the edges of this average street object. the piece has been placed just outside moshi moshi in bartholomew square, bringing to the city the artist’s re-imagining of this mundane artifact. what was once a trash receptacle typical of this modern city’s street is now a point of conversation for passers-by as during the day the object is highlighted while at night, it greatly brightens its surroundings.

for the regency town house space, a grade I listed terraced house (1824-28) by charles augustin busby, batchelor has installed two luminescent works. in ‘brighton palermo remix’, the artist again brings to life through strategic lighting once static objects. where in ‘skip’, batchelor has looked to the streets to inform the base to his luminous project, this time the artist builds by hand two geometric wooden sculptures surrounded by color from small light bulbs. the wooden structures rest within the stripped-bare front rooms of this antiquated home, recalling the connection between two beach-front cities– palermo, italy and brighton, england.

frontal view of the illuminated garbage-bin