John Gibbons

Description

'Therein' exemplifies Gibbons' artistic practice which places emphasis on his works' methods of construction, their physicality and texture. 'Therein's' highly wrought form - fabricated from welded sections of scored stainless steel reinforced with steel braces - points towards that which occupies the space within the piece, as the title suggests. The outer casing of work is like in impenetrable exoskeleton, a carapace which protects that which is inside and inscrutable. Consequently, 'Therein' is merely a receptacle for that which it contains.

Gibbons' recent work (from 2005 onwards) continually returns to this idea of envelopment and containment. Many of his mid-scale pieces reference objects that appear to have been shrouded in protective steel and then bound with bands and braces of fabric and/or metal in order to ensure the safety - or imprisonment - of their contents.