Janet Curley Cannon is an American born (Seattle, WA) artist based in Berkshire, England. She gained her BA in Art History from the University of Washington, Seattle and MA in Fine Art Print from Camberwell College, University of the Arts, London. She exhibits on a regular basis and has been selected for many national and international exhibitions and curated projects.
Janet’s contribution to Brick by Brick is unusual in that at first glance it doesn’t appear to be LEGO®. Her derelict shop is a comment on the current state of ‘The High Street’, with the spread of empty shops and well known retailers closing down. The sculpture shows a crumbling facade, dingy windows and utilitarian closing down signs. However, at the heart of the piece is a 1960’s LEGO® set belonging to the artist’s husband.
The iconic plastic construction bricks have provided a precise, stable structure within the timeworn, weather beaten outer of papier maché that has been applied to it, leaving just the LEGO® windows and a hint of the studs on the base plate visible. The resulting structure is one that most of us would recognise from our everyday life, often found in slow decay, just around the corner from new, shiny office blocks and identikit shopping centres.
