Denny later revisited the format with Global Charge (2019), a series of wall-bound sculptures created for the solo exhibition Security Through Obscurity at Altman Siegel in San Francisco (2020). In that iteration, images of Margaret Thatcher’s old scarves – which Denny purchased on eBay – were UV-printed onto the Chinese-made plastic tablecloths, imbuing the electrifying work with associational links to tensions over manufacturing and globalization. The practice of building meaning between purchased objects, which found one of its early expressions in Positive Associations, has remained central to Denny’s practice into the present.
Installation view Positive Associations; 2006.
Installation view Positive Associations; 2006.
Installation view Positive Associations; 2006.
Positive Associations began from a studio-based exploration with the materiality of retail products. In this project, as across his practice, Denny forms morphological links binding bought objects together and vesting them with new meaning. In the early Untitled (static electricity) works, a British army blanket purchased from an army surplus store and a thin Chinese-produced plastic-backed tablecloth were mounted to the wall and, in a moment of material exploration, rubbed together – resulting in an apparently miraculous adhesion, the tablecloth held to the wall thanks to its static charge. This gesture was then replicated several times over to create a series of wall-based sculptural works, suspended using static electricity. The work’s presentation in Basel, for Liste Art Fair in 2006, constituted the first time Denny’s work was shown in Europe.