"What I've really enjoyed is having time with other artists and time for reflection. The studio feels more playful – last week I caught myself sitting back and smiling at something I'd made with bright ribbons, materials I'd have been far too stressed to allow myself a couple of months ago!"
From the blog 'Project Me' by Stuart Mayes.
On discerning the underlying motivations that shape my practice:
My work is developing slowly around my language course. I have put out some feelers about getting whole game products to use in my videos (I would really like a hare), the process of obtaining permission is interesting, but convoluted and slow.
At present though I realise, the thing that excites me most in my studio is two cardboard boxes, a paper bag, some drawings I made of parrots and petals some months ago, and the possible ways in which these elements might combine.
I am beginning to understand that sometimes (not always) my use of video is motivated by a reluctance to commit to and confront the physical presence of an object, and all that this makes us/me feel.
In a roundabout way this has been one of the motivations for my recent work, which has involved skinning rabbits and plucking ducks: a desire to connect with flesh, the body – to explore physical presence.
As I look at the cardboard box in my studio, I recollect a similar impulse that when I first started making art, carried me towards sculpture.
