Life Sized; MDF, mirrored acrylic; 2005

LIFE SIZED (2005) is a three-dimensional zero made out of mirrored perspex. The work is ‘life sized’ in a literal sense, because it uses Brinkmann’s own body measurements as a starting point (at 163cm, it is exactly the same height as her). DOUBLEZERO (2006) is a further development on this theme, a piece whose subtitle could quite simply be ‘naught plus naught is still naught’.

Both works are deceptively simple. They appear as bold, affirmative sculptures celebrating the iconography of numbers. Yet, they also stand for abject nothingness, and dismantle/dematerialise themselves as objects by taking in their surroundings through their reflective surfaces. Viewer, architecture and context are therefore immediately implicated in the sense of void generated by the work.


Works often appear to undermine their own premise. Rather than staging open antagonisms, they are based on a dynamic of conflict that primarily manifests itself from within. Recently this approach has been short-circuited with a skewed take on the aesthetics and themes of Americana.


GHOST HERD (2004-2008) is a surround sound installation in which a heard of bison stampedes the gallery space from one end to the other. At irregular intervals, the space resounds with the deep rumble of animal hooves. The sound swells up, moves through the building and dies away, making the herd of bison a spatial - albeit invisible - reality.

Right:

'Your Favourite Records'
shards of hand-broken records, jar, shelf; 2005

FORTH WORTH (2007-) is a pile of leather-covered sandbags arranged to form an obstruction or fortification. This is an ongoing piece, which is meant to be shown again and again over a long period of time. Each time it is exhibited more sandbags are added, until – conceivably – the work might one day come to engulf its surroundings. Some incarnations of Fort Worth have also operated as interventions in the exhibition space, by blocking off part of the space and forcing viewers to navigate around it.