Claire Curneen on Richard Slee

CC: 'Cornucopia' means conical, I think, doesn't it? Or cone? Which is obvious. He's probably the cleverest man in Britain today. I just think they're just wonderfully witty pieces of work. I think this, particularly, really makes you smile, really brings something. Initially you're reading this quite serious, formal, cone-like shape and then he decides to put these legs on it which throws it all on its head. You're drawn into this mad world. And it's very clown-like as well. It has [this] really strange other world with it as well; it reminds me of really odd childhood memories of circuses. Strange places which are supposed to be full of fun but they can be strange.

[video clip starts] And it's all handbuilt, handmade. There's almost a sense that it might have been extruded or something ... or not. These legs really quite animate the object. You get a sense that it's just going to take off, or run off. And then [there's] this strange opening. It's like a collar again. Something very like clothes, or wearing something. Yes. I always quite like his use of colour and the way things bleed into another colour, like that blue coming into yellow, disappearing to yellow again. It has that dream-like dream landscape to it. Very odd. [video clip ends]