It depends if you want one you can see, or one that you know is just there (2014)
Glass cube and contents. 15 x 15 x 15 cm
It depends if you want one you can see, or one that you just know is there was inspired by a visit to the pet shop at the end of my street in south-east London. I would often drop in and ask questions about the animals. On one visit I encountered the strangest frog I’ve ever seen in a curious small glass cube filled with mud and moss. It was a Fantasy Frog, also known as Pacman Frog, which eats mice.
I decided I wanted one. I thought about it quite a lot. And went to the shop a couple more times. Someone had bought the one I had first seen. I asked to see another one, which was also kept in a little glass cube with some mud and moss in it. I couldn’t see it as they burrow underneath the soil. While chatting to the pet shop assistant, I asked him why anyone would want a pet which you hardly ever need to feed and is constantly burrowed underneath the soil. He replied, ‘It depends if you want a pet you can see, or one you just know is there.’ Which made me laugh, and think of all sorts of things, like Schrodinger’s cat, and various pointless possessions, as well as the knowledge that somebody may be there for you, even though you can’t be with them physically. Some people who believe in life after death may find solace not only in a belief in God but in the idea that someone who is no longer alive is still there for them.
The glass cube with the mud and moss in it appealed to me aesthetically and I thought it would make a good sculpture. There are also the connotations of concealment—concealing oneself—perhaps concealing the real impetus for making an artwork.