Mending It was the culmination of a residency project at The Parfitt Gallery, Croydon in which the artists Richard Beard and Nick Ferguson undertook to repair discarded broken commodities. The title Mending It was both the name of the exhibition and of a video work in the show. The exhibition press release is printed below.

Press Release

Mending It. Richard Beard and Nick Ferguson

Fairfield Halls, Croydon. 2nd February -3rd March, 2006

The Parfitt Gallery is pleased to announce the presentation of two new public artworks in the centre of Croydon. Kiosk will be sited in the main thoroughfare of Fairfield Halls from 1st February until 2 March. Alongside it, the gallery will project the large-scale video workMending It on 2nd February from 6pm to 8pm.

Kiosk is a work of public sculpture which has a utilitarian origin, and suggests the hope of a social function, but frustrates that hope. An upturned sales booth, built from plywood and finished with yacht varnish and an unfashionable turquoise paint, it is sited in the main thoroughfare of Fairfield Halls, a square that is popular with skateboarders. At first glance features of the structure suggest themselves for physical interaction as potential ramps, ridges or jumps. Actual practice, however, excludes any such good-spirited, convivial gesture on the part of the artists as its smooth surfaces prove too narrow/high/short or slippery to usefully ride.

Mending It, a video in which Beard and Ferguson attempt to repair a punctured mineral-water bottle with fibreglass, will be projected onto the walls of Croydon College, adjoining Fairfield Halls. As with Kiosk, Mending It takes as its starting point the idea of redundancy but this time focuses on the possibility of the artist producing a genuinely utilitarian art object. Unfortunately, however, the artists are not particularly skilled at DIY fibreglass and the toxic resin threatens to melt both the brush and what remains of the bottle and mixing bowl.