For this project Darbyshire worked with the artist Richard Galpin, Hales Gallery, Art Source, and Architects Allford Hall Monaghan Morris, to install this monumental artwork in the foyer of 240 Blackfriars, London.  We constructed a vast 5 x 3.5 metre powder-coated aluminium frame in two parts which were then bolted together on site, the artwork was hung in such a way that it floats in front of the concrete clad wall, with the weight of the artwork loaded onto an interior supporting wall behind the concrete face.

This artwork by Richard Galpin was specially commissioned for 240 Blackfriars, a new building by Stirling prize winning architects Allford Hall Monaghan Morris. The artwork responds to the development of the local area and the layering of marks upon architectural surfaces.

The artist begins by photographing the hoardings of building sites and other surfaces which show layered traces of accidental mark-making. He then works into the surface of the photograph with an electric orbital sander, removing areas of surface emulsion and grinding the powdered photographic dye back into the fibre of the paper. Horizontal and vertical textures are created by sanding with a sheet of plywood underneath the photograph – creating a kind of reverse rubbing or frottage effect. In this way the photographic information and this kind of mono-printing technique merge, creating a complex mix of physical and representational marks.

With this work Richard Galpin observes contrasting speeds of change within the same geographical area – from areas of rapid renewal and development, to sites in a condition of relative stasis.

Artwork Title:’T&RA (Ten Thousand Revolutions per Minute)’ Medium: sanded and varnished photograph
Artist: Richard Galpin
Dimensions: 3.42 x 5.01 meters
Building: 240 Blackfriars

Architect: AHMM (Allford Hall Monaghan Morris) Client: Great Portland Estates
Consultant: Patrick Burrows / Art Source
Image Mounting: A Bliss
Framing & Installation: Darbyshire