Present

Site related work. Beverley Library and Art Gallery, Yorkshire.

Activity: Attempt to paint a perfect circle

Duration of action: 6 hours over two days

Installation 11 - 25th October 1997 Beverley Public Library, Yorkshire

Responding to the donation of the building and a collection of paintings to the people of Beverley by a 19th century local business man the work played with the etymological proximity of the words gift and poison; exploring ideas of the gift as articulated by Marcel Mauss and Helene Cixous and of value in relation to art.

The central action referenced Giotto’s ‘gift’ of being able to paint a perfect circle. At the conclusion of the work, the twenty ‘best’ circles were selected by local arts officers, framed and given to the gallery by the artist. These were then hung opposite the twenty paintings that formed the basis of the original collection. Visitors to the work were given a free gift of a book of matches - on the back of which the story of Giotto was told.

Commissioned by Hull Time Based Arts