Tools of the Trade, & Gallery
2016
Pincers #3, 2016
antique pincers, steel, paint
28 x 5 x 5cm
Pincers #2, 2016
antique pincers, steel
52 x 8 x 4cm
Pincers #1, 2015
antique pincers, steel
36 x 14 x 8cm
Driving Stick, 2016
various screwdrivers, wood, polyester resin, acrylic paint
50 x 15 x 14cm
photo credit: Pia Johnson
Bricoleur, 2016
antique hammer, styrene, polyester resin, acrylic paint
13 x 4 x 9 cm
photo credit: Pia Johnson
King Dick (table 1), 2016
antique wrench, steel
31 x 8 x 4cm
Bonsai Secateurs (table 1), 2016
antique secateurs, steel
31 x 5 x 5cm
Core Sampler (table 1), 2016
antique reamer, steel
29 x 3.5 x 13cm
Wire Shears (table 1), 2016
antique shears, steel
32 x 4 x 10cm
Tin Snips (table 1), 2016
antique snips, steel
25 x 3 x 6cm
photo credit: Pia Johnson
The Amoebic Ozito, 2016
ozito orbital sander, styrene, polyester resin, enamel paint
35 x 40 x 23cm
photo credit: Pia Johnson
Shifting Spanner (table 2), 2016
antique spanner, steel
25 x 3 x 9cm
Combination Square (table 2), 2016
antique combination square, steel
31 x 3 x 11cm
Threader (table 2), 2016
antique threader, steel
67 x 5 x 10cm
Cable Crimps (table 2), 2016
antique cable crimps, steel
27 x 4 x 9cm
photo credit: Pia Johnson
Through the Woods , 2016
antique tomahawk, wood, polyester resin, acrylic paint
59 x 15 x 4cm
photo credit: Pia Johnson
Shifting Spanner (table 2), 2016
antique spanner, steel
25 x 3 x 9cm
Combination Square (table 2), 2016
antique combination square, steel
31 x 3 x 11cm
Threader (table 2), 2016
antique threader, steel
67 x 5 x 10cm
Cable Crimps (table 2), 2016
antique cable crimps, steel
27 x 4 x 9cm
photo credit: Pia Johnson
Pincers #3, 2016
antique pincers, steel, paint
28 x 5 x 5cm
Pincers #2, 2016
antique pincers, steel
52 x 8 x 4cm
Pincers #1, 2015
antique pincers, steel
36 x 14 x 8cm
photo credit: Pia Johnson
King Dick (table 1), 2016
antique wrench, steel
31 x 8 x 4cm
Bonsai Secateurs (table 1), 2016
antique secateurs, steel
31 x 5 x 5cm
Core Sampler (table 1), 2016
antique reamer, steel
29 x 3.5 x 13cm
Wire Shears (table 1), 2016
antique shears, steel
32 x 4 x 10cm
Tin Snips (table 1), 2016
antique snips, steel
25 x 3 x 6cm
photo credit: Pia Johnson
Shooting the Breeze, 2016
antique shotgun barrel, wood, polyester resin, paint
170 x 23 x 23cm
photo credit: Pia Johnson
Tools of the Trade
2016
solo exhibition, 2016, &Gallery, Spencer St, Melbourne
Jason Waterhouse’s sculptural practice is underpinned by ideas of contemporary architecture, urbanization and how we live with the ‘stuff’ around us. In Waterhouse’s studio, ubiquitous objects such as the body of a car, a gardener’s shed, pencils, tools and tree branches undergo a series of interventions resulting in a hybridized object that occupies an uncanny space between the past and the present, the natural and the manufactured.
In Tools of the Trade, Waterhouse presents a series of everyday hand and power tools that have been seamlessly modified through a number of varied sculptural interventions. Screwdrivers can be seen morphing into branches, an electric sander excretes an explosive lurid glossy pink growth, axes grow burls, antique tools sprout crystalline growths and play host to otherworldly geological forms.
Tools of the Trade investigates the innate potential of things. Each object alludes to an inner power, some bursting and rupturing from within, others appearing to slowly grow and morph into hybrid forms. There is also a subtle subversion at hand. In making, the tool is the starting point, the implement required to perform the task, to create, to build, however they also demarcate the end, stripped of their functionality the maker also becomes the made. Imbued with Waterhouse’s surreal and often humorous visual language, Tools of the Trade presents hybridized prototypes for a fourth dimension, offering up an alluring and enigmatic world of ‘what if’s’ for humankind, nature and industry.
Jessica Bridgfoot 2016