Wall Cavities, Furniture Objects, Table Objects

Eskdale's work researches relations between sculptural practice and domestic forms of space and objects. It asks how identity is constructed in its interaction with both human-scaled furniture-type forms as well as voids and cavities, architectural partitions and thresholds. By assembling a sequence of abstracted furniture-type supports, hand-formed aluminium cast objects, spatial paths and gaps as well as interventions into wall cavities, the work indicates that space at a domestic scale is a composite of both known materiality and unknown zones within the user's body and beyond apparent architecture. The work investigates the sculptural implications of themes addressed by Anthony Vidler in relation to architecture (Vidler,1992, The Architectural Uncanny). Through an emphasis on the role of the viewer and the scale of the domestic the work addresses Freud's notion of Das Unheimliche-- "un-home-ly", (Freud,1925, The Uncanny). Artists working in related fields include Rachael Whiteread (2002-01), (Transient Spaces), and Doris Salcedo's working between the space of furniture and the body, Camden Arts Centre, London, 2001. The exhibition, curated by Juliana Engberg, saw over 20 visual artists explore ideas around openings in the body. It included international and Australian artists such as Marina Abramovic & Ulay, Ann Hamilton, Douglas Gordon and Susan Norrie. "I guess with a title like Orifice people had an impression that they were entering the pandora's box of sexual zones, so they have been surprised to find themselves engaging with the political body, the imaginary body of the libido, the intellectual body of metaphor and the body through the history of art and culture," (Engberg). Accompanying catalogue, 'Orifice', includes an essay ISBN 0958039224. Eskdale participated in forums with the curator, broadcast ABC Radio National, The Deep End, 13/10/03. Exhibition reviews: Natalie King, Artlink Vol 24.1, 03; Robert Nelson, The Age, 15/10/03