A collaboration between Charlie Dance and Marie-Andree Pellerin

Created in 2015 on a pocket of ranch land in Marfa, Texas the project aimed to make work hard. Through a physically demanding process we were expressing both a frustration for, and a questioning of, the foundation of contemporary artistic process apparently being so closely tied-in with theory, politics and philosophy. What happens when an artist just wants to do something simple, something physical, with their hands? To get dirty, to sweat. To go beyond, or maybe more accurately, to start before the spectre of theory looms too heavily over the concept and paralyses the creative process.

Happening to find ourselves in a similar mindset at a similar time, we decided to combine our efforts, to support one another’s projects and build something new from the collaboration. Faced with the physical, environmental, political and social challenges of the Texan landscape this project soon expanded beyond its original and modest aims.

Making Work Hard is the result of this.