I recently went to Berlin and when I got home, I thought
I might like to do a Berlin painting. As soon as I
thought it, I knew exactly how I would do that and a few
days after my return, started doing this.
I made nine separate paintings and let them dry. Then I
cut them into bits and pasted the bits on a black A4
display board, flattened and squashed them over a few
days.
I cut up a second display board and made "the walls"
over the top; then I added some decorations.
This
was quite an interesting object to make (I think of this
more in terms of an object rather than a painting) for a
number of reasons.
Most of all, it was very specific in what it "wanted" to
have done. A couple of the original paintings were
really cute and the thought passed my mind that I'd like
to keep them, rather than cut them up. This thought was
rejected very definitely, as was the idea to photograph
the small paintings before essentially destroying them.
Consciously, I also questioned whether the walls should
not be really, REALLY square - measured out with
precision, drawn in with a ruler, precise proportions
like you would find in Berlin.
I found that interesting, shrugged my shoulders and
proceeded as "it wanted me to".
So that's Berlin. A curious object and a curious tribute
to a very curious place ...