Comprising of ten vernacular works displayed in a cabinet, 10 Least Most Wanted features ten images carefully selected by the artist from her reference scrapbooks to make up a coherent series. Strand then confounds the coherence of the series by turning the pictures over to display the images’ reverse side. It is these unchosen, serendipitous images, sometimes just mere fragments, which become the exhibited material.
"10 Least Most wanted comprises of 10 works within a bespoke cabinet. It was crucial right from the beginning that the sides of the selected (recto) and the de-selected (verso) image should be available or at least appear to be available to the viewer. Therefore I used a clear acrylic process that encased the images. The notion of showing the imagery fragments that were not selected as the ultimate exhibit seemed a suitably perverse act. Further slanting the pieces at a precise angle within the cabinet goads the viewer to bend and try and glimpse the 10 most wanted. The angle is just right, just enough so you can peek. Above all, it is the physical serendipitous act of making a work that is of the greatest interest to me. The simplicity of going front to back highlights, for me the shift between intention and realisation, and the confounding of an objective by the random "
Eyemazing Interview with Clare Strand.
‘Ten Least Most Wanted is a selection of the artist’s favourite cuttings from her research scrapbooks. She has encased these in clear acrylic and displayed them in the reverse. The fragmented results, which give a glimpse of the newsprint and pictures on the paper’s other side, manipulate the favoured images' original form and the snatches of writing provide accidental wit.’
Matilda Battersby, The Independent.
This work is in housed in the collection of the Centre Pompidou, Paris, France.