AN OXFORD artist claims he has installed part of his latest work at the Tate Modern in London – without telling the gallery.

Mark James has also ‘installed’ parts of his latest piece at the Saatchi Gallery in Chelsea, a lock on the Thames near Oxford and the north pole of Saturn.

The work, titled ‘Sorcery’, is composed of 48 hovering invisible orbs.

Each one is exactly 2.4 metres in diameter and composed of pure space.

Oxford Mail: Artist Mark James with the floating orbs he has installed above Pinkill Lock. Picture: Richard Cave

Mr James, who last year opened his Barton home to visitors as an artwork, says he has ‘installed’ the 48 orbs in clusters of four at 12 locations around the solar system – mostly on Earth.

Each cluster has its own name, and there are even four at Modern Art Oxford which he calls The Eternal Attractions.

If you want to see them, they are floating in pairs in each of the large rooms on the first floor.

If you’d rather see the orbs in a natural setting, The River Watchers at Farmoor are hovering in two pairs above the Thames, at exactly 48m upstream and downstream of Pinkhill Lock.

Mr James himself has said he is hoping to raise a chuckle with his work, but insists it is also a real piece of art.

Oxford Mail: Artist Mark James's diagram of the floating orbs he has installed above Pinkill Lock. Picture: Richard Cave

The idea is to make a comment about art in general: why is it that an object in an art gallery – an unmade bed, an empty box or a blank canvas – is deemed art, but the same object somewhere else is not?

SO WHERE ARE THESE ORBS? 

BUBBLES OF JOY: Tate Modern, London.
THE BOUNCERS: Newport Street Gallery, London.
THE BEACH BALLS: Wandering the beach of Oxwich bay, Wales.
THE GHOSTS: Hovering around the archaeological ruins of Chichen Itza in Mexico.
THE QUARTET OF HOPE: Resting on Vire Island on the river Dart in Devon.
THE UNTITLED: Inside the Saatchi Gallery, Chelsea.
THE ETERNAL ATTRACTIONS: Modern Art Oxford.
THE MARK JAMES BRIDGER WAS HERE: Serpentine gallery, London.
THE RIVER WATCHERS: Pinkhill lock near Oxford.
THE ONE FOR THE MONEY: This group has disintegrated and reformed as separate 1cm cubed pieces (28,952,917 in total). The cubic centimetres can be bought (and relocated) along with an artist signed note of ownership for the bearer.
THE NOBODY REACHES THE STARS: One is on the main belt asteroid Circe (34). Another is on the north pole of the planet Saturn. Another is on a planet that orbits the star Vega and the last one is in a neighbouring cosmos, beyond the confines of our own, and in the direction of the ‘cold dark spot’ in the cosmic microwave background (that is in the constellation of Eridanus, the river).
THE MYSTERY: The location(s) of this group are unknown (two) and unknowable (two).

He said: “They are, of course, see-through, but I can assure you they exist; they are there because the artist said so.

“As Picasso said, the purpose of art is to show what reality is not, and thus, by reflection, remind you of what reality is.

“So sculptures of space, immune to the laws of physics, may make you wonder ‘Why the laws of physics?’ or ‘What is the nature of reality or the true nature of space?’, or ‘Did space and time come into being once upon a time or is it inherently eternal and infinite?’, so it is that art that is a bit silly can lead to long and deep conversations.”

In 2012 Mr James painted a mural on the floor of the Ark-T centre in East Oxford inspired by the theory the universe is expanding.

In November he opened his house as a walk-in art gallery and in December he unfurled a 24sq m canvas over the front of his home bearing a painting of a female figure riding a big cat.

Speaking about Sorcery he said: “Is this an example of, or a comment on, the funny world of contemporary art; an expression of mirth and lightness, or ultimately a joke?

“Sure it is! - And all the better if it raises a smile or a chuckle.

“What’s better than a bit of joy and laughter?”

Modern Art Oxford and the Tate declined to comment on their new installations.