Statement
Art
is about communication,
and presenting a visual image or object is an opportunity to
communicate different
threads of a complex message in a single moment. Instead of simply
uttering a
statement, the artist makes an image, object, installation or
performance and
imbues it with content. Work presented to a viewer is an open package,
with
ideas and images offered by the artist and selected by the viewer.
The
position of the artist in
society affords the opportunity to both comment on culture and current
happenings and to try and shape the aesthetic.
My work fluctuates between images which
directly comment on contemporary
culture and serious topics, and a more open style which is based on
similar
themes, but asks more interpretation of the viewer.
Object making is a way to try and make sense
out of an increasingly complicated and scary world. Recently, my work
has focused
on themes of aggression, consumption, growth and place. I weave iconic
forms
into figurative and gestural shapes in order to comment on and question
the built environment and culture in which we live.
My work is
alchemy;
combining fundamental local materials while exploring and exploiting
their
gross qualities and our associations with them.
Central to
my objects and installations is gesture:
forms menace, collapse or incline towards one another in a deliberate
parallel
to our own bodies. The stuff that art is made of brings its own history
and set
of connections and by using them deliberately, I try to tap into our
collective
awareness of the material world. I aim
to slow the viewer down and ask them to contemplate the real qualities
of the
material in front of them, the maker’s intentions and the
peculiar fusion of
the two.
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