Claire Willberg

The construction of these complex images evokes shelves filled with combinations of objects, reminiscent of an archive or deep storage space where items are deposited and catalogued for safekeeping. The processes reimagines these objects giving them new identities that are loosely recognisable by their shapes and interactions with colour, rather than any previous use. This work highlights the forgotten and overlooked, offering these objects a renewed existence and legitimacy.

The shapes in these prints are based on some of the discarded plastic objects that I have recently found @clairewillberg. This work brings them together as a working archive and uses a stack construction as a way to store and view these objects. Each object sits on a part of this stack and comes together for safe keeping with the other shapes.

‘Red Four’ uses only one colour and brings some of the same shapes together showing them almost as an alphabet documentation of the objects this time only using one colour. This print is made up of 4 sheets of paper which are hung together.

At the Stone Space, London, 19th January -12th February 2023

Open Saturday 10-4pm and Sunday 12-4pm

Shelf life, an exhibition of recent work by Claire Willberg, takes inspiration from the small-scale plastic objects that are discarded on our streets.

Willberg uses photography to record this found information and further explores and transforms it using printmaking to create both prints and stop motion animations.

The construction of these complex images is suggestive of shelves inhabited with combinations of objects, reminiscent of an archive or deep storage space where objects are deposited and documented for safe keeping.

The work explores the forgotten and overlooked and offers them new existence and legitimacy.

An exhibition of relief prints and stop motion animations made during The Muir Trust Residency at Discover Bucks Museum, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire.

28th May - 2nd July 2022

Then moving to Slaughterhaus Print Studio

9th July- 29th July 2022

The residency was an opportunity to spend time in a different environment and develop response to the extensive range of objects in the museum. By exploring the juxtapositions of bringing unlikely collections of these objects together and by combining artifacts from different cultures a series of different compositions were curated.

The objects in the prints use a shelving system to store the created shapes that are reminiscent of an archive or deep storage area, a place to deposit and document objects for safe keeping.

Alongside the prints, a series of short stop-motion animations that repurpose the printing plates and the other paper cut-outs to create a series of short films was made. These stop motion animations enable the flat printing plates to become the moving images that interact together to create an environment that is constantly on the move. Using both natural and artificial light to create another layer of movement these stop motions bring together humour and absurdity whilst exploiting the natural qualities of each object.

This recent series of 12 ‘Pink Shelf’ etchings recalls some familiar imagery and references. The objects unlike in previous prints stand alone and interact with their restricted surroundings sitting within a screen like framework reminiscent of an archive in a museum or storage space.

A series of new prints made in early 2021 that uses red and white inks to mix a range of pinks. The images have been seen in previous work but this time they stand alone and held within a frame or screen like structure. The objects are closed behind grids that act like barriers obscuring our view.

Objects in these prints each have their own individual stories and maintain elements of the familiar whilst still holding on to their previous lives. The shelf like layers featured in the prints create structure in the work and bring together shapes, reminiscent of an archive in a museum or storage space. Shapes combine and merge with these shelf layers to construct, overlap and create spaces that have a familiar but distant reference to the real world.

Alongside this work I have made a series of short stop motion animations that repurpose the leftovers from the relief print process such as the stencils, printed papers and cutouts, these can be seen on my instagram.

The objects in these recent prints each have their own individual stories and maintain elements of the familiar whilst still holding on to their former lives. Shelf like layers featured in the prints create structure in the work, bringing together shapes, reminiscent of an archive in a museum or storage space. Shapes combine and merge with these shelf layers to construct, overlap and create spaces that have a familiar but distant reference to the real world. Through my work I attempt to explore ideas about the forgotten, and offer renewed existence and legitimacy to the overlooked. Alongside this work I have made a series of short stop motion animations that repurpose the leftovers from the relief print process such as the stencils, printed papers and cutouts.

April 2020