Russell Maggs, Installation still from 'Employee of the Month' 2006. Courtesy the artist
An exhibition exploring the decline of the manufacturing industry and its replacement by mass consumerism opens at The Glyn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea on January 27 2007.
Employee of the Month runs until April 15 2007 and is the work of emerging Welsh artist Russel Maggs. It delves into the often banal world of modern day working environments and the production and distribution of ordinary objects that characterise our increasingly bureaucratic lives.
The exhibition recreates sections of walls from an original installation that reproduced a modern small business - complete with time sheets, ticking clocks, uniforms, rules, regulations and company policy.
Russell Maggs, installation still from 'Employee of the Month' 2006. Courtesy the artist
Each tableau is set against a specific wall colour ‘chosen by management’ from mood charts apparently effecting employee’s productivity.
The work is littered with application forms, health and safety directives, risk assessments, post-it notes, DINKYS (dual income no kids yet) and employee awards as Maggs attempts to reveal the effects of modern working practices on everyday lives.
“I have created a factory within my head, which produces a variety of art objects,” says Maggs of his work. “The decline of manufacturing jobs in the modern world has influenced my thinking in the creation of this fictional factory… It is the creation of largely pointless objects in our society that drives me to create.”
This seemingly contradictory dichotomy originally led Maggs to create his own fictional/real company known as RAP – Russell’s Art Production Limited. In this fictional business the artist imagined himself as the employee for all the jobs in the small business - from manager, factory worker and receptionist to factory cleaner and security guard.
Russell Maggs, Installation still from 'Employee of the Month' 2006. Courtesy the artist
He also created a carefully constructed working office complete with display area, reception, manufacturing space and staff room. A starting point for his ideas was the growing number of small manufacturers setting up businesses in portacabins across the UK and indeed across the world.
Throughout his work Maggs asks us to consider what the role of the artist is and the nature of art work within mass consumerist culture.
