David Mach

Description

The Wild Bunch! features the model figures of children and animals which stand in every high street waiting benignly, wistfully, modestly for alms to be paid through the slot in a proffered box or through a slit in an ear, head or paw. These meek beings, through Mach's intervention, have become anarchic, demanding money as they hurtle along in their Jeep, brandishing weapons in the form of chainsaws, screwdrivers and hammers - some of the tools which may have been employed in their construction. Once-simpering dogs now bare their teeth, a penguin snaps its beak, and a blind child becomes a reckless joy-rider.

David Mach draws our attention to objects that we may overlook or take for granted. He turns our perception and assumptions upside-down to sharpen our response and to get us to look at the world in another way. Most of Mach's work suggests that there is an alternative point of view, and sometimes, by the most minimal alteration of the original materials, meanings can be totally turned about.

The slightly off-balance siting of the Jeep underlines speed, energy and chaos. It has echoes of a cartoon where velocity is expressed by such means. This graphic device draws a parallel with the way in which the figures were originally depicted. They are three-dimensional illustrations of animal and human kind - generalised rather than specified representations.

This lively assembly is the antithesis of the original collection of figures, but there is yet another twist in the tale. It is MachÍs intention that The Wild Bunch! should work for a charity, so the sculpture will be sold, and the proceeds, once fabrication costs have been met, will go to Save the Children Fund.