Carl von Weiler

Exhibiting from Saturday, 9th July 2011

Decoy 1 (2011) makes a direct response to the house and gardens at Wallington.

In simply relocating something normally found ‘inside’ and placing it ‘outside’ the work become particular to the environment.  It was important to choose something from the house that related directly to us all.  A bed is an item that we all have a close relationship with on a daily/nightly basis and it is also a private place where dream can happen.  The bed could be seen as a surrogate for the human body. 

In placing a bed ‘outside’ everything changes.  Once the protective shield of the house is taken away the bed becomes vulnerable and exposed – it becomes ‘exterior’ and in turn the outside environment that was once open and wild now becomes domesticated - it becomes ‘interior’.  In choosing lakes to place the beds on we are prevented from actually touching the works, thereby relying more on our imagination to give us the information of what its like to be ‘out there’, exposed to the elements.

In placing a bed on a lake people have remarked that, “it reminds me of a dream I once had”, or “I wonder what that sensation would be like?”.  The connection to dream seems entirely logical, as ‘a bed on a lake’ appears as a poetic image, one that we are not entirely sure of – ‘is it real or not?’.  It appeals to our sense of reverie and also to our sense of humour.