Terry Summers

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Five Crusaders, CR # 1 to 5 which included a motorcycle policeman and motorcycle and five bricked up doorways all constructed from waste cardboard make up this installation which is called "no access".

This installation was first shown at the Soapbox Gallery, Brisbane in June 2000, and the exhibition continued in the Soapbox Gallery Window during July 2000 with 24 hour viewing onto Brunswick St.

The installation "no access" is a gesture which turns in on itself, inasmuch as it is a vehicle for entering and at the same time limiting access. The access being to my mind, to my soul, to my inner self.

The only real access to my mind, my soul, my inner self is to be on the same wavelength as myself, then, one no longer needs access because one is already there.

In the installation "no access" the Crusaders are symbolically used as guardians of partly open doors, the openings of which have already been bricked up as an added deterrent to access to my inner self.

The size and shape of the Crusaders comes from one of a series of my earlier paintings which was called "Night Crusaders" in which the Crusaders were trying to manipulate / stop / make others do things which they did not wish to do, as the Crusaders of the Middle Ages did.

In this issue they have a different role as protectors of my inner self. Their physical appearance is slightly similar to the Crusaders of the Middle Ages yet each one is also wearing some item of modern apparel such as a collar and necktie. Each one wears a cross and carries a book and a weapon, be it a bible or a traffic policeman's ticket book, a sword or a pistol, a religious symbol or a police badge.

Three of the Crusaders each had one square blue eye, and CR # 4 only had a mouth, he was a shouter, whereas CR # 5 which was the largest and most imposing had neither mouth or eyes, he was a listener and his ears were small perforated holes in a symmetrical pattern as on a telephone earpiece.

One could say the installation was an experiment on my part, in this instant I have blatantly used conceptual art as a vehicle to show off the craftsmanship and sculptural size which can be achieved using waste cardboard.

About the Crusaders

CR # 1 (1.93m tall) is currently on the front porch of a Brisbane solicitor's Gregory Terrace home.

CR # 2 (2.0m tall) is on guard in the home of an artist who lives at Everton Hills.

CR # 3 (1.89m tall) was a modern day motorcycle policeman, complete with police motor cycle (2.4m long), and both are currently in the home of a Brisbane architect

CR # 4 (1.98m tall) was dismantled and the right hand which was grasping for his sword, used as a test piece by Urban Art Projects, to be cast in aluminium (colour slide enclosed) as a preliminary show piece, to exhibit what could be achieved with cardboard sculpture in discussions with the developers of the large 3.55m tall urban art project to be installed in 2004.

CR # 5 (2.05m tall) is in the waiting room of a paediatric doctor who has his surgery at the Mater Children's Hospital. He is quite willing to allow it to go on display in the "Pop Zoo" exhibition at South Bank for a month next year. CR # 5 is one of 5 Crusader type figures which were featured in my installation "no access" which was exhibited at the "Soapbox Gallery", Fortitude Valley, Qld. in June and July 2001.