Clare Flatley

My practice is continually informed by casts, reflections and distortions of one kind or another. The cast collection at ECA has been a source of inspiration in a direct sense, through one particular cast, of Ghiberti's Gates of Paradise. But also indirectly in their presence as replicas/copies/shadows of significant classical works of art. I have been interested in this transformation from original to cast and the individual histories each of them possess. 

Previous Work
The Black Gates was a piece that was specifically inspired by, and references the cast of Ghiberti's Gates of Paradise currently displayed as part of the eca cast collection.  I was interested in the way the casting process had transformed it from the shiny, gold original in the Florence Baptistery to the dark ominous shadow in an unlit corridor of college. What was most striking to me was the immersive power of the gates, the way the viewer’s eyes are drawn in through the narrative of each panel, owing to the dark, optically absorbant surface as well as the sculptural technique used by Ghiberti to depict a complex narrative through  one particular landscape or architectural setting. This immersive experience is what I wanted to replicate, and is how I developed the folded swirling black texture used in the final show.

New work in progress for Cast Contemporaries