Vertebrae by Vertebrae (2025) Velvet, liquid plastic, 3d printed vertebrae

Various sizes

In this series of sculptural works velvet fabric – rich, tactile, and heavy – drapes from 3D printed vertebrae, the ends dipped in hardened liquid plastic, changing what was once fluid into something fixed. Clements connects this work to the scientific fact that certain skills or knowledge (such as drawing or sewing but also the processes and constant round of emotional behaviours and activities experienced by artists) become so hardwired into the body that they slip beneath conscious control. 

The biological circuitry underlying unconscious memory is found below the brain, in the spinal cord. 

Titles of each individual work – from left to right:

1. Proof of Activity

2. Evidence of Attempt

3. Emotional Ache

4.Not What You Had in Mind

5. Made in Good Faith

6. Theory Fatigue

7. Practiced Sincerity

8. Something About Process

9. Guilt

10. Available for Retrospectives

11. Desperately Pleased to be Considered

12. Quiet Judgement

13. Artistic Hypocrisy 

14. Cardinal Sin

15. I Have Said Something

16. Well, it’s out There Now

17. Am I A Twat?