Title: Foxy

Media: Artificial silver fox fur, painted MDF plinths

Dimensions: Variable

Foxy presents a tumult of long, writhing snake-like rolls of artificial silver fox fur. Spreading across the entire floor area of a room, it reveals organic meandering formations in certain areas whilst it builds up height, volume, and mass in others. Casually climbing and spilling over the edges of two grey plinths, it gives an impression of abundance and lazy indulgence. The tactile presence and physical scale of the installation engages viewers on an experiential and sensory level whilst inviting probing questions about its indeterminacy: is this ‘thing’ excessive or controlled, dead or alive, invigorating or oppressive?

Foxy is similar to Skipping Rope in its formal structure, which is in-between shape and line, surface and volume. It is at once a formless mess and a contained mass. Foxy is however more ambiguous in its references than Skipping Rope. Whilst the light, fluffy material of which it is made might connote ‘soft toy’ and suggest that it should be read in reference to notions of play - like Skipping Rope - it is not wholly convincing in this respect, perhaps because its large scale and more subdued and indistinct grey colour works against such a reading. Rather, the fur of Foxy conjures up more wide-ranging references to beasts and to man’s use and domination of animals, here not so much for the purpose of survival as for their sublimation into luxury items: a ridiculously long fur boa….an art installation. Yet, the irony of Foxy is, of course, that its distinguished silver fur is fake – and shamelessly so. Far removed from a ‘real’ beast, Foxy is an entirely man-made ‘hyperreal’ beast.