Delays Expected

RHS Chelsea Flower Show Installation

21 – 26 September 2021

Coinciding with the return of the RHS Botanical Art & Photography Show 2021 from September 18 through to October 3, 2021, Saatchi Gallery is participating in the RHS Chelsea Flower Show presenting new works by British contemporary artist Dan Rawlings.

The installation at the weeklong show features new artworks by the artist set out to spark a dialogue about our interaction with nature and our dependency on industry including: ‘Delays Expected’ (2021), a steel forest shell hand cut into the walls of a repurposed transit van.

Set at the heart of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show (stand number RHW281), the steel structures demonstrate Rawlings’ fascination with the resilience of nature with the ‘deserted’ vehicle swamped and almost overcome by the plants and foliage of the surrounding garden. Rawlings’ intricate hand cut process is created using a plasma cutter, a handheld torch that combines electricity and compressed air to cut through metal. Finer details are added with a variety of other specialised tools, guided by Rawlings’ preparatory painted sketches. The vehicle’s structure will be illuminated using hidden LED lights and will be lit deliberately at random – as if left wild, and free of human control. The garden will also be surrounded by reshaped traffic lights and roadworks signage resembling Rawlings’ steel cut foliage motif.

“We hear the phrases ‘net zero’ and ‘emissions targets’ daily, and it’s easy to tell ourselves that our problems are being dealt with, that we are on a smooth road out of environmental catastrophe. We can be diligent with our recycling, carbon offsets and reusable shopping bags, but these efforts are not enough, and the reality is that we are patching a potholed road. Traffic lights and roadworks interrupt the flower show, and weeds interrupt the roadworks. ‘Delays Expected’ is a utopian Atlantis – the spectre of a world that could be free.”
– British artist, Dan Rawlings

The installation will be on view at stand number RHW281, located on the major show thoroughfare Royal Hospital Way.