From 7th October
2012
The Stapleton
Road Tavern Window Commission
4x
Banner Prints (138x168cm each)
The work Nail Houses for the Stapleton Road Tavern window commission
examines progress, regeneration and urban development through the phenomenon of
Nail Houses - a name given to the small buildings that often stubbornly remain
confined within large urban developments. This work is part inspired by their
presence in films from Robinson’s childhood such as Batteries Not Included (1987) and Herbie Rides Again (1974). These are both very
idealistic films – the ‘good’ residents against the ‘bad’ developers with the
Nail House becoming a symbol of resistance against unheeding change. The images
look into a potential future - the stubborn Nail Houses, existing as time
capsules for morality and social values, still standing, still pristine, while
their once daunting neighbours exist decayed, their facades of progress rusted.
The models of the buildings themselves are sourced from
the idealised world of model railways, a world that depicts a romanticised
image of a specific time, a time when things were ‘better’ but a time that
ultimately did not exist. In this world, like the world of movies a story can
be created, the past can be how we want it to be, and the future, or indeed the
present, does not need to exist. This can be seen as a synonym that mirrors the
way we often look at out own lives, the past being created by our selective
memories into an optimal version of itself with the rough edges removed.
Visit Stuart's website here: www.stuartrobinson.net
Contact Stuart here: stuartgrobinson@yahoo.co.uk
