In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

235 21 THE HEART OF THE MATTER Chris Drury Chris Drury has developed a unique and inimitable approach to working in the environment. Born in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and educated at Camberwell School of Art in London, Chris Drury has, over the past twenty years produced an incredible range of works. For his large scale sculptural integrations Drury builds two distinct structural forms: cairns or shelters. The choice of location plays a role in the conception of the work, and the locations have varied greatly from New Mexico to Sussex, England. He has exhibited his work widely. Chris Drury’s most recent exhibitions include Heart of Stone in early 2004 at Oriel Mostyn Gallery, Llandudno, Wales and at Stephen Lacey Gallery , London. Hut of the Shadow won him a commendation from the Association for the Protection of Rural Scotland in 2002. Commissioned site specific works include Cloud Chamber for the Trees and Sky (2003) for the North Carolina Museum of Art, Heart of Reeds (2000), a reedbed biodiversity initiative that is taking place at the Lewes Railway Land Reserve in Lewes, Sussex, Tree Vortex (1998) at Dragsholm Castle in Odsherred, Denmark and Cedar Log Sky Chamber (1996) in Kochi, Japan. JG A civilization’s artistic expression can give us indicators as to the degree of depth and intelligence of a given culture at a period in history. It also carries traces of geospecificity, of climate, of landforms, animal species, flora and fauna. Are your structures a cultural embodiment or expression of parallel relations between human history and natural history? CD I don’t know, these structures are made instinctively—acting from a hunch, a feeling in the pit of the stomach. One can think about reasons, etc., after and that is a process of becoming conscious. Structure is part of the process. If you want to build a big structure from flimsy sticks, the structure has to obey certain laws. I like that. The structure is both practical and beautiful. There is structure in process and process enters into my work at all levels. JG Do you believe culture can play a role in heightening awareness of nature’s place in our lives? The Heart of the Matter 236 CD Nature is an idea created by culture, and nature is an idea embedded in language . Its very term presupposes that we are outside of it and therefore is anthropocentric . We are nature and nature “is.” Our lives are a process of nature. JG Satish Kumar has said that we have to develop a new declaration of dependence as opposed to independence in recognizing that we should perceive our place on earth in mutualist terms. CD Yes of course that is correct. JG Does the way you make art express a relation between human culture and that of nature? CD Human culture is part of the process of nature. The problem is that we are divided. There is a perpetual duality. This is so deeply ingrained in the human psyche that we will never change our self-destructive habits until we understand that division. Only in this understanding will our actions change. Without this we will always act with disregard. JG Your recent Cloud Chamber (2003), created for the North Carolina Museum of Art, includes an aperture that projects the image of trees upside down inside the structure on the walls and floor. This is an artwork that references architecture, but an architecture sensitive to a culture of permanence where ecology and nature are a presence. CD I am aware of all the ecological debates, but these are not the primary source of my work, although they may obliquely reference it. In the first instance, I make my work on a hunch, or by instinct. Usually this is from a direct experience in or with the outer world. A visceral connection is made. I feel that modern man is disconnected and divided and that in part is what is causing many of the problems. Later, usually after the art event, I am able to make conscious connections. I may even make use of this “joining of the circle” to push those emerging ideas further in subsequent works. Some of the works I build outside are indeed architectural. They enclose a space and you can enter them as you would a building. All of these works play on the idea of inside/outside, inner/outer. From the outside they are an object, structure, or hut that exists as an object...

Share