About Ian Jackson
Ian Jackson’s work uses a combination of video, drawing, personal writing, sculpture and collected dis-located objects/materials to explore the different physical shifts, cultural changes, personal decisions and boundaries that materials can become signifiers of over time.
Recent works follow pieces of reclaimed architectural limestone, felled London Plane trees and zinc metal used in historic building restoration. His work opens up the wider worlds around these materials in an attempt to understand their significance. Through this process, he hopes to learn what it really means to take ownership of this ‘stuff’ and discover whether it’s possible for these materials/processes to be more than just a means to someone else’s end.
Work often starts with a collection of materials or objects that hold some kind of personal significance, but that also have potential for change and display a kind of wiggle room or transferability that means that they can become signifiers for bigger more universal ideas and investigations. The work I make is about ‘following’ these collected materials and finding ways to unpick and explore their specific languages and processes.
Boundary objects and zinc templates
The collection of materials or objects I have chosen dictates the type of work I make, the materials I use and the skills I use to make it. A lot of my current collections explore ‘ boundary objects’- things that sit between image, object, surface and architecture. The zinc architectural templates and profiles used by stonemasons are a great example of this, they provide the correct geometries and scale needed when recreating each damaged stone from a building’s facade. These zinc templates bridge drawing, objects and architecture. They are functional drawing tools and blueprints all in one.
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