“You see, it’s a bit like a miracle”. That’s how Matthew Dalziel describes one of the pieces of work he and Louise Scullion are working on. I’ll not do it credit, I apologise, but in essence it’s a rain sculpture. It’s being installed in Saudi Arabia (which has very little rain), it’s a tall room like sculpture. You stand inside it, you hear rain. There’s a space in the top through which you can see the blue sky. So it’s kind of like a little miracle.

Earlier today we spent somewhere near an hour in the Dalziel + Scullion studios in DJCAD. Matthew chatted to us about some of his live projects, talked us through how the commissioning and making process usually works for him. Very refreshingly, he discussed profit-making frankly, without any embarrassment and / or pain. How does an artist make enough to sustain him/herself and his/her work? How do you learn about contracting and working with all the various other people necessary to make particularly big installation pieces? No answers…just a tip to talk to people, to take advice, to think forward.

Dalziel + Scullion’s work is pretty wide-ranging. To classify what they do is pretty tricky – Matthew finds it hard. But he does say all their work is united by theme. Their work focusses on all things ecological, man’s place in the natural world. Which has proved to be pretty useful in a political environment that’s increasingly interested in the climate. They’re talking to the government about projects, have recently made a piece of work for the HBOS headquarters etc etc.

As well as working to commission they also make self-initiated, often smaller pieces of work. Including these beautifully printed bark tubes (I’m sure that’s not what they’re called.) The images are Dalziel + Scullion photographs that are then printed up in Dundee at the Print Studios. They’re made into tubes, sent down to London and sold through a gallery / shop. I think I’ve got all of those details right.

They were initially made for a show in a now closed gallery in Skye. It was part of a dispersed project that happened across the world, and all invited artists in the various countries were briefed to make something that could be sent through the post. And it’s kept going. It’s a nice small project that makes the guys some money. One of the questions asked – how does that make you feel? Working the same piece up over and over again? Does that make you a designer rather than an artist? Matthew says no not really. It makes you someone who can earn through his art, and there’s nothing wrong with that. And if someone wants to talk to them about turning the tubes into a commodity, say a lamp pendant, well they’d be more than willing to do that. Why not?

Last thing. They’re looking into setting up an MFA in Ecology and Art. Sounds interesting eh?

/////

To find out what Dundee Popup was all about or to read more reviews & blogs  from the day, click here.