Erics Floor

So we have started the commissions on the second row of shops. E. Sucks the butchers now sells all sorts. Eric has diversified as he says people don't really buy cuts of meet like they used to so he does sweets sandwiches and bakery stuff. Plus bacon and sausage - still has fresh tripe and some general corner shop stuff.

Again we went in with the idea of doing something useful. The floor looked like it needed a new lick of paint so we suggested this. I got really excited because I thought we could make an exact replica of the floor on MDF and have it in the Exhibition at persistence works - so we would have a Neon and a Carl Andre. I sort of fell in love a little with this idea as I love the way people have to really decide to walk on the Andre floor pieces and it's back to the idea of -function to meaning. The point at which you step onto holds all sorts of questions about the value of the art object. It was also a really good thing for Eric as he was going to do it anyway.

I was a bit worried that he may have thought that painting his floor was a really funny thing to suggest so we took in some designs and some colour sheets. Proper floor paint takes 8 days to cure so this was a bit of a problem. Anyway in the end Eric didn't go for it which I suppose is what the works about - we couldn't just race in and paint his floor if it wasn't what he wanted. This was good for the project as it made me think about the value structure and the layers of ideas we were working with. The fact that Eric was pleased with what he got was far more important to me than the daft reference to function to meaning and ironic Carl Andre reference in the show.

In the end he decided he would like some window stickers to advertise what he sells - This is a good idea because from the outside of the shop it's difficult to know all the stuff he stocks so it feels more practical. I'm just off down there now to photograph some items. I am not sure how these will look in the exhibition at Persistence works but I think they will probably work - maybe even reference Warhole.