Sculpted tables interact with a system of glass tubing (an extruded spirit level) to make a series of groupings or alignments. An arena, or empty space is formed by them. The tubing refers to the lighting conduit and architectural detail as it follows its path around the space. Daylight has been excluded to create five alcoves and provide a consistent light. This emphasises the response between the fluorescent liquid and the lighting circuit. A video - ‘ringleader’- plays into a mirror alongside them, a muse delighting in his own reflected image and transformation.

The tables are foldaway, occasional tables used to divine, gamble, examine or trade. They are used to incant or confirm intangibles, yet seem to be bound, either by their support of a connection or their resistance to it. Their coverings are white kid leather.

The title plays on these contingencies. ‘...do you, or have you ever?’ could prefix an official query, head a magazine survey, or be the refrain of a love song. Each probing and appealing to deeply personal territory, yet shrouding it with their calling to the universal. The work explores this duplicity, whereby communications can both establish contact, and manipulate exchange.

...do you, or have you ever? is the artist’s first one person exhibition. Mel Jackson most recently exhibited at the Musee d’Art Moderne in Villeneuve d’Ascq, France.