Thomas Adank

Description

Adank is interested in repetition, both as it exists in the mass production that characterises capitalist culture, and in the simplified forms of aesthetic Minimalism. With Permutations, Adank has successfully conflated these two extremes in fountains constructed in minimalist shapes that erupt into dishwashing liquid, one of the most familiar of consumer goods. Materiality is a central concern in Adank's work, which he explores here in both its aesthetic and social dimensions.

This series of fountains, assembled using unlikely materials, including party fountain frames and lemon fairy liquid, is incredibly tactile thanks to the sensuous nature of the lemon fairy liquid as it cascades up and down the forms. The antiseptic and hygienic lemon fairy liquid and the cool stainless steel structures upon which it glides serve to undermine the corporeal and organic references made by these forms, resulting in objects that are simultaneously appealing and repulsive.

Adank's interest in questions of middle-class values and taste underlies these formal concerns. Whilst fountains in Ancient Rome provided potable water, they were also decorative objects that announced power and status, a trend which has carried on through today, as fountains continue to occupy city centres and gardens for their aesthetic rather than practical value.

Adank's Permutations takes the concept of a decorative fountain to an extreme, combining sensuous forms and textures to produce objects which are purely and paradoxically ornamental, their sheer decadence outweighing the everyday "utilitarian" nature of their materials.

The chocolate party fountains used in these Permutations were provided by Giles & Posner.