Deborah Duffin - That Playful Place

About

Following a summer-long installation in the window of the gallery by the artist Deborah Duffin, Ken artspace re-opens for its autumn programme to reveal the complete installation of the artist's work. 
 
Drawing underpins the work of Deborah Duffin, ideas emerging during the study of natural phenomena, observed, recorded and subverted via her use of materials. She develops ideas in a variety of media; the work shown here is made with wire, recycled materials and found objects. Her work is in a continual state of flux and change. Small elements are created using basic methods of construction: cutting, tying, twisting. These are then combined and structures are built intuitively - as she works, forms emerge. Made with malleable materials these forms can be manipulated and reformed - adding, subtracting, bending, squashing - mirroring the energetic activity of the natural world. A piece may be repeatedly remade until its final form emerges through the process. Later this piece may change yet again as it is combined with other forms, in response to a space. 
For her show at Ken artspace she plays with window, alcove, and floor, exploring relationships between work and features, giving new life to the environment. A playful approach allows surprises to emerge during the process as she makes new connections. Works flow around a constrained space, hardly contained, looping against a window, trickling over an edge, butting up against a wall - an exploration of structure, process and space; the energy held by its architecture.