In around 1765, inventor of musical instruments John Joseph Merlin unveiled his latest creation, the roller skates. He decided to unveil them at a society ball held at Carlisle House, the Soho residence of Teresa Cornelys who was the mistress of Casanova. He put on his skates and glided past the assembled guests whilst playing a violin. The only thing that he hadn’t considered until that moment was how he would be able to stop. He careered across the ballroom floor and crashed into a magnificent mirror that was worth £500, probably about the value of a good sized house.

Mychael's idea for this piece was to create a print that captured the exact moment of impact with the mirror. He decided to make a screenprint which he could print onto sheets of glass. The glass would then be flipped and smashed with the resulting image shards being reassembled on the bed of the exposure unit to create a fractured mirror image.

Artist Biography

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