2008 | animation, illustration, installation, painting

Crane (Yellow with flowers and leaves), 2008, Gouache and ink pen on paper, 29 x 29 cm


Duchamp Played Chess; I Made Cranes was first shown at FERREIRA PROJECTS in April 2008. This body of work emerges from Ford's fascination with the ancient Japanese practice of Origami and begins to illustrate how Eastern Art has become Westernised.

EXHIBITION CATALOGUE AVAILABLE



Blue Crane Study, 2008, Watercolour on paper, 15 x 15 cm each
Like Marcel Duchamp, who in 1923 declared that he was no longer a practicing artist and instead both played and studied chess for the rest of his life to the near exclusion of all other activity, so Ford became disillusioned with his art practice and, in 2007, decided to dedicate his time to making Origami Cranes instead of creating any new work. He became obsessed by the paper folding process and intrigued by this ancient art.


Crane (Blue with flowers and leaves), 2008, Gouache and ink pen on paper, 29 x 38 cm


Crane (Green with white flowers), 2008, Gouache on paper, 29 x 29 cm
Origami cranes have great significance in Japan – the giving of a folded crane to someone is to wish them a safe journey home, and legend has it that if a person makes a thousand cranes they will be granted a wish by the Japanese Gods. By giving in to his obsession with Origami, Ford folded 1,000 cranes in all colours, patterns and types of paper and displayed them as a large installation. His adjacent studies take the form of watercolour and Gouache paintings of the folded cranes.



A Thousand Cranes, 2007-2008, 1,000 hand-folded Origami cranes, bespoke wooden framework, 172 x 225 x 172 cm



In a cyclical way he turned his studies into patterns, created his own paper designs and used these to fold more cranes. Ford has also created a computer animation of infinitely spinning rainbow cranes and large intricate pattern prints, inspired by the numerous Origami papers used, which references the more contemporary Japanese culture.



Golden Blossom, 2008, Lambda print with hand painted gold, 180 x 180 cm

Blossom (Green with flowers and rainbow clouds), 2008, Lambda print with hand painted gold, 120 x 120 cm

9 Rotating Rainbow Cranes, 2008, Projected digital animation, Dimensions variable Click here to view animation.


Ford accompanied the exhibition with his own limited edition Origami paper design, including instructions for a classic Origami crane. Click on the image to download >>