A collection of over forty picture postcards traverses the gallery space. Similar, but different to a greater or lesser extent, each of these pictorial mementos records ‘The Bowder Stone’, allegedly the largest free-standing boulder in the UK.

Several years ago it was a postcard of a painting made in 1868, based on an earlier photograph, that prompted Dunhill and O’Brien’s initial interest in this massive boulder. More than the boulder itself however, it was the addition of a staircase leading to the top of the rock that caught their attention – turning an otherwise impressive natural phenomena into a poignant architectural form, posing as both a pulpit and viewing platform. Here in one of the most ‘unspoilt’ areas of England (the famous Lake District) is a rock that has been tamed and domesticated.

In the main space of the Gallery Fleur, Dunhill and O’Brien will be presenting a new large-scale sculpture. Seventy metres of cotton calico have been formed like a dressmaker’s toile directly on the top section of the Bowder Stone. This detailed and tailored prototype, somewhat over sized for the gallery space, is supported by an elaborate construction of wooden props.

Meanwhile the ‘Stone Appreciation Study Room’, made with the participation of KSU’s Fine Art students involves a collection of images and objects that relate to the cultural status of stones, from the Blarney Stone in Ireland to the Torpedo Rock of Australia, the Balanced Rock of Colorado to Kyoto’s own Ryoanji rocks, in this case as a woven image on a cushion cover.

About the Artists

Mark Dunhill and Tamiko O’Brien have been working collaboratively since 1998 and have exhibited in galleries and project spaces in the UK, Ireland, Holland, Italy, Germany and Japan. They have participated in residencies at the British School at Rome, the European Ceramic Work Centre s’Hertogenbosch, Holland and Youkobo Art Space, Tokyo.

Their joint practice has involved elaborate devices, strategies and the participation of others in ways that allow them to make new work together, that attempt to side step their own individual taste and self expression. At times they have co-opted existing objects to help them in this endeavour – an ancient hole in the floor of a Cistercian Abbey, one of Noguchi’s largest stone carvings as well as their own ‘pre-collaborative’ artworks.

Mark Dunhill is currently Dean of Art at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, London while Tamiko O’Brien is Associate Dean of College at Camberwell College of Arts, London.