Six tonnes of DC Thomson newspapers spilling out of a shipping container will form the basis for international artist David Mach’s next masterpiece – and members of the public will get the chance to see him at work.
Mach will be constructing his latest work, Odyssey, from Monday to Friday at Dunfermline Carnegie Library and Galleries, which will be open to visitors who will be able to see the large-scale installation take shape over the course of the week.
The exhibition will then run at the Dunfermline venue until February.
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David said: “Sea containers carry the world’s stuff.
“We make, we produce, we trade. We’re obsessed with it. It’s in our genes. We use these boxes to hold our ideas and designs.
“They travel the globe with our history and our culture in one long continuous journey.
“It’s no wonder they appear like Greek temples, their long ribbed sides replicating pillars, their short gable ends holding the doors to the Aladdin’s Cave inside.”
The exhibition marks a return to Fife for the artist, who is originally from Methil.
In the 1980s he paved the way for installation art with his first sculpture, a giant Polaris submarine made from car tyres.
Much of his early work was created from enormous intricate constructions of newspapers, none of which were fixed with glue, nails or screws.
Since then he has worked with match heads, pianos, full-size billiard tables, dishwashers and coat-hangers.
To coincide with his exhibition at Dunfermline, ONFife will be displaying Mach’s portrait of his father, entitled Dad, a striking sculpture of a head made from coat-hangers, as part of major rehang of the permanent collection at Kirkcaldy Galleries.
Lesley Botten, interpretation team leader at ONFife Cultural Trust, said: “Staging “Odyssey” has been a logistical challenge and taken months of planning but we’ve really enjoyed working on this ambitious installation.
“We are now very excited to see it come together and I’m looking forward to seeing how our visitors’ respond.
“We hope as many as possible take up the invitation to come along and see the work progress next week, a very rare chance to watch a leading artist at work and an installation being created.”
The exhibition is supported by DC Thomson Media, The Sunday Post and Fife Group, with Briggs Marine supplying shipping buoys for the installation.
This exhibition is a partner event in VisitScotland’s Year of Coasts and Waters 2020, which will see Scotland celebrating its Coasts and Waters with a year-long programme of events and activities to shine a spotlight on these vital elements of our landscape.
