David Mach

Description

David Mach employs no end of curious and unrelated materials and man-made objects in his sculpture. From piles of unused newspapers and magazines he has fashioned full-scale classical columns; from rubber tyres, submarines and Greek temples; from match heads, the most colourful portraits, and from burnt match heads, sombre ones. It is from the match heads that a series of portraits using wire coat hangers emerged. The sitter's face was modelled, and the contours described with closely assembled rows of hangers, the hooks providing a shimmering aura around the head. The primary concept for The Garden Urn was for one with coat hangers which stood at Goodwood for five years. This fibreglass version is the same as the core form around which the coat hanger piece was constructed.

The Garden Urn came about because David Mach was interested in the over-decorated, reproduction garden urns that can be found in garden centres. Given Mach's long fascination with kitsch items this was not unusual, but the twist in the tale came when Sculpture at Goodwood asked him for one of his wire coat hanger garden urns. He had not made one, but thought this to be a reasonable idea for a sculpture. We found that the gardens of Biddulph Grange, a National Trust property in Staffordshire, had the ideal sugar-bowl urn. With the help of the head gardener, Bill Maleclei, photographs were taken and the shape and scale approved by Mach. The National Trust's Mercia Regional Office gave permission for Mach's assistant, Philip Stroud, to take a copy of the urn, which he made in fibreglass. The fibreglass version was originally displayed tipped over, spilling fruits on to the ground, opulent and extravagant. It now stands vertically, yet still cocks a snook at our preconceptions and desires for the status that such objects are supposed to imply.