Abbey Rome Fellowship (exhibition)

Richard Clegg was awarded The Abbey Rome Fellowship at the British School at Rome for the period 1.1.07 – 28.3.07, which led to this exhibition.

His research explored the relationship between differing ‘sensory systems’ employed in basilicas and popular spectacles such as Luneur Park, an amusement attraction in Rome. The fellowship enabled further research into Michelangelo’s Laurentian Library in Florence, and Piero Della Francesca’s ‘The Legend of the True Cross in San Francesco’ in Arezzo, which enabled him to further explore his understanding of the relationship between narrative sequence and architectural space.

Clegg’s intention was to question how the viewer’s sensory experience of his work could be affected by carefully siting it around the British School. Paintings were made and installed in response to the site’s façade/portico and operated in direct relationship to the sunlight present at different times of the day. Varying degrees of light intensity temporarily ‘edited’ the apparent pictorial information allowing text to be either totally or partially perceived. This drew on Clegg’s understanding of the specificity of light developed whilst working with James Turrell (Michael Hue Williams Gallery, late 1990s).

Other artworks contrasted ideas of study similar to the visual techniques used in lecture theatres and classrooms, where text, diagrams and photographic representations are commonly used. This work was an attempt to reconstruct the boundaries between education, art practice and the activities and paraphernalia associated with leisure experience.