Overview
A mantelpiece, formal remnant of the domestic architecture that once tied house to hearth, is also a form of subverted frame.
A mantelpiece, formal remnant of the domestic architecture that once tied house to hearth, is also a form of subverted frame. Objects placed on top of this structure are exalted from the economy of the everyday into the realms of the ornamental. While a frame acts to hermetically seal value within its perimeters, a mantelpiece acknowledges the ideological properties of the boundary/border/perimeter in and of itself. It provides an 'edge' on which to realise a microcosmic visual display, exploiting the periphery as a fertile space for the performance of meaning.
For Cedric Christie, a mantelpiece provides the territory for a form of curatorial play that traces the currents that course through art history. By offering itself as a platform for objectifying the utilitarian and coveting of the quotidian, it becomes the stage on which visual hierarchies are presented and recast. Christie's work betrays a fascination with the fluid line between art and object, manifesting the mercurial spirit inherent in embracing indistinction.
A mantelpiece, formal remnant of the domestic architecture that once tied house to hearth, is also a form of subverted frame.
