WHAT AM I DOING?? January 2017
I’m making things that flop and slop. They need to lean on or be supported by something. They’re lazy or tired or bored or apathetic or depressed. Lethargy is soupy and droopy and slow and stagnant. Household objects are cartoonified into sculptures that have a pose and a personality. The everyday materials are recognisable but they are asking you to play along and forget their intended function. Paper tries to stand, surface tries to be subject. Maybe the materials are bad actors. They are not very convincing and they drag their own histories and contexts into the sculpture. They are trying to be autonomous but they come with too much baggage. I’m using this baggage as a readymade context. Wallpaper is a flimsy surface to cover cracks or convey taste or wealth. It represents façade, aspiration and pretence. The subject is already there, so I just need to coax it into a narrative or a joke or a metaphor. This process involves emphasising and obscuring characteristics and connotations until it makes sense. I’m choosing objects and colours because I find them attractive, then I’m chewing on them and identifying references they carry. I’m exploiting the references and trying not to lose the original lust for the squash or slump or whatever of that starting object. My work is like laughing at poo jokes. It’s silly and naive and childish and satisfying. Hopefully it’s talking about something outside of itself like lethargy or failure or facade, but I think I’m happy if it can elicit a grin or a smirk or a satisfied 'mmmm'.
I’m making things that flop and slop. They need to lean on or be supported by something. They’re lazy or tired or bored or apathetic or depressed. Lethargy is soupy and droopy and slow and stagnant. Household objects are cartoonified into sculptures that have a pose and a personality. The everyday materials are recognisable but they are asking you to play along and forget their intended function. Paper tries to stand, surface tries to be subject. Maybe the materials are bad actors. They are not very convincing and they drag their own histories and contexts into the sculpture. They are trying to be autonomous but they come with too much baggage. I’m using this baggage as a readymade context. Wallpaper is a flimsy surface to cover cracks or convey taste or wealth. It represents façade, aspiration and pretence. The subject is already there, so I just need to coax it into a narrative or a joke or a metaphor. This process involves emphasising and obscuring characteristics and connotations until it makes sense. I’m choosing objects and colours because I find them attractive, then I’m chewing on them and identifying references they carry. I’m exploiting the references and trying not to lose the original lust for the squash or slump or whatever of that starting object. My work is like laughing at poo jokes. It’s silly and naive and childish and satisfying. Hopefully it’s talking about something outside of itself like lethargy or failure or facade, but I think I’m happy if it can elicit a grin or a smirk or a satisfied 'mmmm'.