2018
cherrywood
handheld tools
wooden trestles
Installed under the soaring pyramidal roof of the 1960’s modernist, square sanctuary of Anderston Kelvingrove Parish Church, Glasgow, ‘Against the Grain’ was part performance and part installation. In the centre of the church, on trestles, Gardner & Gardner set up a two metre length of locally sourced cherrywood. Over eight days, the wood was gradually filed and reduced to sawdust using only handheld tools. Visitors to the exhibition were invited to join them in this physical task. The installation was a physical, experiential exploration of Jesus’s words in Matthew 7:5, “First remove the beam from your own eye, then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your neighbour’s eye”.
