Dazzle

wood, paint, varnish, bitumen, felt

220cm x 90cm x 100cm, 2019

Dazzle is a portable ‘sentry box’ sculpture that references the ways in which forms of observation and ‘watching over’ are themselves frequently made visible to signify the control and demarcation of space.

A structure for displayed viewing, its painted surface is inspired by the marine artist Norman Wilkinson’s ‘dazzle’ painting technique (sometimes known as ‘razzle dazzle’), which was developed at the Royal Academy of Arts to protect ships during WW1 by making it more difficult for observers to judge their exact form, direction and velocity. Diagrams designed at the RA were used by other artists to paint the vessels, one of whom was the Vorticist Edward Wadsworth. More recently the principles of dazzle painting have been used in Formula 1 testing to confound rival teams and to hamper facial recognition software.

Dazzle was used for a series of observations and recordings of the surrounding landscape at the Sidney Nolan Trust in summer 2021 and the H-Arts exhibition at Canwood Gallery in summer 2019.