Hot Dip 2025.
Work created for Sharp Edges, group exhibition at Threshold, Leeds
Ian Jackson’s contribution to Sharp Edges is a large site responsive intervention titled Hot Dip. The central framework of the sculpture is an adapted palisade security fence that becomes a barrier to the large buddleia plant, that after a full year of growth occupies much of the small garden space at Threshold. This bright galvanised steel fence plays host to other works, materials and objects that Jackson is researching- a significant one being the bark of a London plane tree which uncannily mirrors the camouflaged pattern of galvanised metal. (This pattern called spangle and Jackson’s ideas and research into the process of Hot Dip galvanisation are explored in greater depth in his accompanying printed work and edition.) Hot Dip precisely interjects into the space, becoming a surface for Jackson to compose other ideas and thoughts across it. Some elements have been hot dipped themselves, others coated in zinc paint unifying the entire assemblage.
-Julia McKinley
Double sided silver print on A3 transparent paper 2025.
Side 1: Finders Keepers- image of cast London plane tree bark.
Side 2: Spider diagram of thoughts and wider research on Hot Dip.
A limited print that formed part of an accompanying publication to Sharp Edges. This along with an edition are available from Threshold.
Image credits: Jules Lister
Spolia, 2020-ongoing
An in-progress video work that follows a geological vein of magnesian limestone down the country from South Shields to Nottingham. This stone has shaped infrastructure and industry in the North, but is also rooted in local landscapes, personal histories and has been used in prominent monuments & buildings such as York Minster. This work documents and explores the world around this material, unraveling the processes behind this stone’s pervasive use, displacement and re-use in the hands of the public.
Still images from video footage and ongoing research below:
A surface is defined by the body/bodies it is attached to; it is the outermost limit of a thing. A cut or break can reveal a deeper understanding of the whole and in turn, the fragmented parts have the ability to become more closely linked.
Install image from Spolia at Serf, Leeds.
Zinc profile etching plate..