'Supermarketism'

Welcome customers to Supermarketism. Supermarketism is a body of sculptural work that started in 2005 and now in 2010 continues not only as a relatively short-term research project but also as a body of work that will continue well into the future. Much of the aesthetic and conceptual explorations made in the five years of this research will be re-examined, refined and re-defined for many years to come as both formally refined objects and installations of social, political and artistic critique. I write this preface in the aftermath of writing the story. In fact, I needed to write the story to be able to both explain the arguments it contains and to clarify them for myself. The presentation therefore is not only an argument but also the story of how that argument developed.This thesis is the narrative of how Supermarketism developed initially by mispronouncing Suprematism. It tells the story of my artistic background and the subconscious reasons a mistake became a body of artistic research. I did not set out to explore an identified gap in knowledge in the field of sculpture. Rather, I set about a methodology similar to Malevich in exploring a cube as a sculptural variation to the Suprematist exploration of the square. The methodologies, influenced by my ‘conceptualist’ viewpoints, are very different to Malevich’'s non-objective viewpoints. It was the discoveries that this methodology and its influences that allowed me to come to a seldom investigated, observational point. In addition, with that point, further interrelated components evolved.The links between the world of commerce and the world of art are concrete blocks in the brickwork of our society. The current visual face of the world of commerce is the Big Box Supermarket complex. Most would say that the world of art is far too sophisticated to have designated car park space in this region. My line of argument is contrary to this assumption. I believe that even in this ‘no frills’ divide in the world of commerce, the world of art is a major stakeholder. I come to this line of argument initially by making objects that conceptually explore consumerism while making highly desirable, well-manufactured consumer objects. In the process of making, my iconography is increasingly sourced from the elements of Big Box Architecture. I find that many of the elements that I have investigated exist in sources from Minimalist Sculpture to the much earlier Non-Objective geometric abstraction. In fact, Malevich himself made sculptural Architectons that he saw as a blueprint to a new architectural aesthetic, which has an uncanny resemblance to a Mega Mall.In Conclusion I write the Supermarketism e-Manifesto “The Non-Objectionable World". This is a take on Malevich'’s manifesto as an ultimate sales letter. A most appropriate and appropriated way to sum up