Suburban Utopia, An Infertile Place (SU4IP)
Lyndon Watkinson
Lyndon Watkinson (1999) is an artist, designer, writer, and musician based in Sheffield, UK. Democratising art and art context through artworks, publications, graphic design, articles, and sound. Creative director and founder of the online arts organisation SU4IP. His work is characterised by a desire for precision, often depicting aesthetics that celebrate and criticise the absurdity of corporatized identity, calling into question the necessity of creating false exteriors when what is not seen is often just as important.
In late 2020, a blog post entitled Suburban Utopia, An Infertile Place formed part of the wider inquiry and development of his practice for his bachelor's degree in fine art. As his work matured, he applied this term as a formalisation of his creative endeavours, later abbreviating it to SU4IP, now used as a digital alias and publishing entity.
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Digital Collage, 2022
01:25 explores the latter, ultimate, or finality of new ideas. Using democratic, equilateral shapes, this image is founded on reason and function.
Taking inspiration from the radical ideas of Kandinsky and Rodchenko, both working against the rigid and highly structured viewpoint of Δ-503 in Zamyatin’s We, this work encapsulates our instinctive desire to both topple and uphold.
︎ Intertwined with architecture, the grid is used to mitigate the risk of erecting a structure and facilitate calculating its integrity. Despite its precariousness, Hanging Spatial Construction is grid-bound. Not in the act of displaying its aesthetic qualities, but in defiance.
Kandinsky and Zamyatin were subjected to political restrictions in Soviet Russia. In We, Δ-503’s neighbour would work daily on complex equations to discover and identify the ‘final’ number, and thus the final revolution.
Δ-503 would record, in reference to the One State, ‘I’m certain we shall prevail. Because reason shall prevail.' [1] Likewise, Rodchenko would record, referring to the end of painting: ‘I reduced painting to its logical conclusion and exhibited three canvases: red, blue, and yellow. I affirmed: it's all over.’ [2] For Russian avant-garde artists, the grid was the conclusion of aestheticism. It marked the end of impulsive and emotionally driven art, and the beginning of an optimisation imperative.
The process of creating this image began with recreating elements from Rodchenko’s Hanging Spatial Construction. The two shapes are depicted with seams to transform something two-dimensional into something that more convincingly resembles a physical construction, while still maintaining a digital appearance. I added a grainy overlay, subverting post-modernity. Still maintaining the soft, pixel-perfect elements underneath.
Inspired by the concept of 'art to end all art,' I used democratic, equilateral shapes to communicate purpose, function, and utility. To resemble the idea that reason shall prevail.
The sticker in the bottom right is to suggest that this work is an archival artifact rather than an image, withdrawn from an exhaustive cabinet titled, ‘Art said to have ended all art.' 01:25 symbolises the reality that art is inconclusive and never stagnant.
[1] Yevgeny Zamyatin, We, Hugh Aplin, Croydon, Great Britain: CPI Group Ltd, 2017. p.227.
[2] Wikipedia. Aleksandr Rodchenko. Visited: Sept. 2021. URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Rodchenko#cite_note-9