Paul Cullen’s Attempts are a body of photographs. They are an ongoing sculptural project that began in 1999, which is the outcome of travel and broad research over such topics as science, architecture, literature, history, gardens and place.
Attempts document installations at particular sites. Cullen has made Attempts to date in New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, South Korea, Italy, France, Switzerland, Spain, The Netherlands and the UK.
“I developed Attempts in relation to 60’s conceptual art practice, and in particular the work of artists like Gordon Matta-Clark and Robert Smithson. (What remains now of their work exists primarily in the form of documentation as film, photographs, drawings, notes and diagrams)."
Attempts record the installation of a yellow pencil “variously lodged, taped, poked and propped” at particular sites eg the pencil in the hedge outside the Freud museum or propped at Circular Quay. These are not grand vistas but small composed components. Each image has an accompanying text stating the date created and providing clues to the location through diary like references that are a mix of the historical and anecdotal.
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