Implement : drawn

Through the discipline of sculpture, the project explores the nature and purpose of hand tools as a significant technological extension of humans. The exegesis firstly establishes the utilitarian function of the hand tool in its historical context. It is then argued that the possession and use of tools can be perceived as a form of fetishism. The term fetishism in this context describes a certain satisfaction that arises from the look and the handling and use of hand tools. It also refers to the gratification involved in the process of using tools to create or realise a sculptural form. The intent of tool use in manufacturing, domestic activities and artistic creation is to make the 'significant object'. These processes always create a marginalised 'leftover' or residue. The value and significance of different forms of residues as signposts or traces of an interaction is investigated in the context of artistic practice and interpretation, discussed in terms of the work of Long, Cragg and others. In the context of this visual art exploration the residue has come to be seen as the significant result of intentional action. The outcome of this research is realised in a visual art exhibition. In these artworks the notion and form of tool residue has gained its own distinct identity as a concept. As in the exegesis, the visual art element of this project also interprets the historical and fetishist constructs of the hand tool by specifically focusing on the leftover residue from the process of manufacturing. The residue that has influenced the form of the sculptures in this thesis is, by its very nature, free of intentional imagery and as such contains the freedom and gesture of the verb `to draw'. The exhibition Implement; drawn references the idea of how line mediates space and as a consequence the residue has become important as an informing device for moving line or a sculptural body through space.