George Cutts

Description

As a child during the Second World War George Cutts remembers being mesmerised by small pieces of tin foil floating from the sky, where he would delight in catching and chasing them around the street.

Naxos is deeply evocative of this sense of play and excitement with the two metallic twists dancing around each other, almost teasingly back and forth. Its polished surfaces capture an ever-changing series of reflections and colours as they spin, creating a carousel-like effect. Because of its tapered form and gentle curves it is a light-hearted, visually pleasing piece and is in fact, named after fond memories of a holiday on the Greek island, Naxos.

The historical reasons behind why these small tin foil fragments were dropped, to disrupt enemy plane radar signals during the Second World War, adds a more serious dimension, perhaps causing the viewer to analyse the symbolic meaning of Naxos further.

In this light they can be seen as skewers, possibly mimicking the swirling decent or air currents of a bomb or merely, through the constant motions of the twirls, the unceasing efforts of the allies to defend England. The lasting impression of this piece however, seems to depend on whether the twists are interpreted as spiralling with a downwards, driving or grinding force or in an upwards, floating direction, ultimately creating a positive or negative effect.