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Viewing single post of blog Recent Work

There’s something really powerful about being impulsive or spontaneous. My practice seems to rely on impulsivity, rarely is a recent work pre-planned. There’s something interesting about pulling whatever material seems to be in front of me, like a take away menu, a black marker, a backing board (for a frame) or crappy printer paper and making art from it, or using them as art materials. I’m starting to question is this laziness, or is it genuine? I think a lot of my current practice relies on a certain gesture, mood or response to materials.

Seeing Darren Nixon’s launch pad show at Castlefield Gallery last night I was please with how he had responded to materials, like in a don’t give a fuck mentality painting on cardboard is fucking fine. I love how it has been mistreated and abused, corners bent and scuffed, screws perturbing from timber, unprimed canvas and unfinished woodwork. Its definitely very punk.

I’m also concerned that so many materials go to waste. Even when paper is recycled its not necessarily a sustainable process or with a zero carbon footprint. The process of recycling involves transportation, loading, unloading, machinery, chemicals, man-power, electricity, water, etc etc. Much better to re-use than recycle. Every time I put something in the recycling I think I’m throwing away a potential painting surface or sketching paper, then I find myself going to an art supplies shop and buying painting surfaces and sketching paper! What the fuck. This definitely should influence and be responded to in my work and I think it is beginning to. This idea of covering up that is so prevalent in my work at the moment also comes through, I can see evidence of the pizza menu withstanding the thin layer of white emulsion that sits on top of it. Was this intentional? Nothing much is to be honest. is that the point? Who the fuck knows.

On the works themselves in the above picture, there are some fairly interesting works evolving through drawing and experimenting. I’m still not sure on where most of the source imagery comes from. That’s the most honest way I can describe it. I see my current practice as an on-going experiment or journey, but each work seems to respond to previous works and informing new works, creating dialogues and relationships that go on to formulate a conversation or perspective.


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