The Stairwell Project: A Study in Permanence

By Madina Burkhanova

Prolific artist Richard Wright established his trade like most in the 1980s: painting on canvases and contributing to what can only be described as a supply-and-demand fine art industry. This commercialisation, which he called “rampant and cynical,” eventually sickened Wright, leading him to give up painting altogether for a time. Soon enough, though, he found a way to overcome this fiscal obstacle, choosing to paint on permanent surfaces such as walls. The catch - once the work was exhibited, he made a point of painting over it. The benefits of this practice were twofold; primarily, he was not making a marketable product. Additionally, his art was a kinetic response to a pre-existing space with its own history and structure. From this sentiment was was born The Stairwell Project.

Originally born in London, Wright moved to Scotland as a child and established his career after completing his Masters in Fine Arts in Glasgow. The Stairwell Project is a slight digression from Wright’s constructivist tradition. Indeed, it is one of his most ambitious and complex works, but its main distinction is its permanence; Wright did not paint over or destroy it. Commissioned by the Edinburgh Art Festival, the piece takes up the west stairwell of the Dean Orphan Hospital (now the Dean Gallery). Created in an intensive four-week period in 2010, The Stairwell Project takes up an interior space characterised by inwards-inclined windows, almost giving the effect of implosion, and hyperbolically high bannisters. The entire effect is fairytale-esque.

Robert Wright, *The Stairwell Project*, 2010, acrylic on wall, Dean Gallery, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh.

In Wright’s own words, the building has “these extraordinary, beautiful details and little hidden elements, and it has this melancholic history as well, which has crept into my thinking.” His fusion of minimalism and Renaissance fresco is made up of thousands of delicate black symbols; the entire piece is almost reminiscent of Islamic art, which relies so heavily on geometry. From a distance, the figures resemble a flock of birds, a starlit sky, or even a generic wallpaper. It is this inconspicuous, even abandoned nature that Wright loves, though: “You may almost glance upon it absent-mindedly - you might not even register that it is there - and that sort of daydream space interests me.”
While The Stairwell Project is already unique in the scope of Wright’s personal style, its conception and development were also distinctive. It all started out with two dots of black paint: “I did a lot of drawings for this work - a lot of thinking about it. I even made a model, which I never normally do, influenced in part by a sense that the work may remain.” When speaking of his process, Wright describes his affinity for restricting his own materials. This austerity almost forces him to be creative with his limited resources - in the case of The Stairwell Project, this consisted only of walls and black paint.

Wright’s general moral code brings to light an interesting discussion on the commercialisation of art. Day by day, the art industry becomes more monetarily incentivised. It is undoubtedly an interesting concept to explore; what is the value of an art piece made to be sold? Furthermore, how important is its permanence?

Bibliography

Creed, Martin. “Martin Creed: Down Over Up; Richard Wright: The Stairwell Project; Joan Mitchell.” Guardian New and Media Limited, August 8 2010.

National Galleries Scotland. “The Stairwell Project.” National Galleries of Scotland.

The Modern Institute. “‘The Stairwell Project.’” Edinburgh, Tory Webster Ltd.