Casting shadows in an apocryphal dialogue: Some notes for Sean Dower

Sean Dower has a lightness of touch in his approach. He is steeped in the cultural milieu of recent discourse, but is not tied or hampered by it. Dower’s work is grounded in sculptural practice which is a natural extension of our three dimensional experience of the world. This means that sound, light, film, performance, happenings and duration are all components in the production of his work and as much part of his vocabulary as artifacts. Although many of his artworks pay direct or indirect homage to recent artists, he treats the exchange as one might when holding a conversation and the ideas expressed are fluid and open to change, and different interpretation. My title deliberately uses the term ‘notes’ in order to emphasis the provisional and discursive nature of our ongoing discussion. Topics we addressed led in numerous directions, one to the artist Bruce McLean. We continued to converge around McLean’s and Dower’s collaborations as well as elements of film and performance in McLean’s work, I spoke with him about Dower’s practice. In conversation, Dower speaks of the brief possibility of unmediated experience as one of the driving factors of his approach. This ideal goal is combined with an immersion in the fluidity of cultural exchange via art; and especially the means of its production. The functionality of an object and how it operates is intrinsic in his work. Dower draws attention to an object’s symbiotic properties, facts which otherwise would be overlooked. This methodical strategy characterises his lightness of touch. For instance in ‘Enochian Reflectors’ (2012) the visual appearance of acoustic reflectors echo constructivist work and the form follows function of modernist iconography. Linking objects to perform together reveals what might not have been seen or heard but becomes central to their status as art object. It is quixotic, like a piece of magic. ‘Shaking cabinet’ (2012) is a grey metal cupboard, inside is a bass speaker tuned to trigger the cabinet’s resonate frequencies. Periodically the low frequency sound makes the cupboard rattle and roar at quite a volume. It catches the viewer off guard. This duality of the object’s qualities which Dower simply draws to our attention presents surprises...