White Wall 25

Location

Country: France
City: Paris
Place: British Embassy

White Wall 25 is part of Michael Wilkinson’s ongoing investigation of the concept and form of the wall as a motif, initiated in 2002. Wilkinson has explored this motif in various formats, mostly painting and etched mirrors. In 2009, looking to make a wall sculpture without actual bricks, Wilkinson identified Lego as having an idealised quality that real bricks lacked, closer to structure as concept.

These sleek monochromatic toy brick walls appear calculated at first, impenetrable - oppressive even. Upon closer inspection, however, the stark surfaces are littered with strata of irregular, stained and worn second-hand bricks. Wilkinson sources his material at charity shops, online auction sites – each bearing an inherited patina of age, circumstance, and the handling of generations of children. Wilkinson discovers in his materials moments of human recognition that disrupt a one-dimensional reading of the series.

Places

Subjects

Lego, toy, brick wall, wall

Materials & Techniques

aluminium, sculpture (as object name), plastic sculpture

Artist

Michael Wilkinson (1965 - )

Title

White Wall 25

Date

2018

Medium

Lego bricks with aluminium support

Dimensions

height: 150 cm, width: 150 cm, depth: 3 cm

Acquisition

Purchased from The Modern Institute, Glasgow UK, April 2019

Provenance

The Modern Institute, Glasgow UK; from whom purchased by UK Government Art Collection, 2019

GAC number

18802