Work in Progress: Florence Carr

Florence Carr works with domestic materials such as wallpaper, upholstery fabric and the back panels of tissue boxes to produce steel assemblages directly on the wall. Ahead of her solo presentation with petrine (Paris) in Focus at Frieze London, Carr reflects on her new body of work, and the capacity for an object’s form to overtake its function, memory and sentiment.

Livia Russell Can you talk about your new work for Frieze London? 

Florence Carr In previous bodies of work I layered found materials into schema-like forms, recentring objects and their associations, and disrupting their capability to act as carriers of memory and sentiment. My new work gauges the function of objects beyond the personal, trialling the limitations of familiarity through abstraction.

LR How does this work fit within your œuvre? 

FC Conscious of material hierarchies and histories of objects, I often use antiquated, ‘surplus’, or inhabited materials that no longer fulfil their role within materialistic consumption patterns. The capability of handcrafted materials to defy duplicability is also a continuing point of intrigue. 

Gestalt theory of perception suggests that information is perceived as a whole, rather than as disparate parts processed in sum. I’m interested in our human desire to seek patterns in the everyday to make sense of the built environment, which is itself constructed upon principles of structure. 

LR Are there new sources of inspiration in your current work? 

FC I’ve been revisiting Tom McCarthy’s novel Remainder (2005). Following an accident that leaves him with memory loss, the protagonist attempts to imitate his everyday routine. Obsessed with authenticity, he fixates on things made without will, like a grease stain or a scuff mark. He measures what is real by what feels familiar, but his fickle memory continues to challenge his points of reference. I’m interested in how far you can stretch the recognizability or authenticity of a form; how you can still fill in the gaps before it adopts a total newness. 

LR What does your day in the studio look like right now? 

FC Recently, I’ve been using production methods outside my studio to further the degree to which I can influence the found material I’m working with. This contrasts my minimal intervention approach in previous works.

LR How do you see your practice developing? 

FC I’d like to continue outsourcing methods of making, focusing on the authenticity of objects in relation to overconsumption, whilst continuing to consider the architectural principle of ‘truth to materials’.

LR If my studio could speak, it would say... 

FC The studio building comprises two former businesses: a bank and a fire-extinguisher factory. In the loading bay, there supposedly used to be an illegal boxing ring, where they held matches between the employees of the two companies. I’d like to think the building has some anecdotes about that.

Focus is presented in collaboration with Stone Island, whose bursaries further aid young galleries’ participation in the fair alongside Frieze’s existing support. 

Further Information 

Frieze London and Frieze Masters, 9 – 13 October 2024, The Regent’s Park.

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^{Main Image: Florence Carr’s studio. Courtesy: the artist}