Martin Boyce Before The Leaves, 2016

The work is from the artist’s series of mobiles that characteristically imbue the formal vocabulary of contemporary urbanism with moments of unexpected tenderness and beauty.

From a black metal rail, fixed to the wall on one side, two smaller rails from which sections of rusted steel chain hang in different groupings are suspended. A small lantern made from open work lacquered metal sheets hangs from each of the three sections.

The mobile combines elements from urban and semi-domestic settings but also recalls organic shapes, in this case the branches of a weeping willow tree, as the title puts it "before the leaves." The flowing chains with their small lanterns play on the ambivalence between associations with industrial materials and the invocation of the emotional and physical characteristics of the willow tree. In the context of this work, the lanterns, a recurring motif in the artist’s oeuvre, double as flowers or blossoms, while the use of perforated lacquered steel refers to the work of Mathieu Matégot who introduced the material into 1950s furniture design.