Applause
2007
Wood-cased light box lit with white neon and coloured vinyl
70 x 50 x 18cm
Series 1 – 1 (+ artist’s proof)
SOLD
A work comprising of three repetitions: “Quiet Please, Performance and Applause”, based on the signage of television and theatre. Melvin edited and omitted text, using letters highlighted with coloured neon, which flash as if performing. The viewer is presented with the resultant prose from the process reading: “Ease it’s quiet pleas, peace for romance, alas, a pause, applause”.
It is performative in nature, an aspect that is accentuated by the flashing of the final line ‘Applause’ but also in the omission of letters, deliberately making the viewer interpret the edit of the original and interact with the work in a manner different to the simple reading of a text.
‘Applause’ won the Nationwide Mercury Music Prize Art Competition in 2007.