Friday, 3 June 2011
WHAT I DO AND WHY I DO IT.
My work explores taste and humility through painting, sculpture, textiles and installation. I am interested in the use of the grotesque in art and how by taking the bizarre and transforming it into the obscene, one can create a piece of work that will provoke an immediate and powerful reaction and stay with its audience. My illustration work focuses on automatic thinking and writing, drawing out humour from the everyday and ordinary, subjecting them to the strange and unusual. I create work instinctively and avoid all subtlety. My body of work is eclectic, but is ultimately tied together through a theme of self- deprecation and outlandish humour.
I am currently exploring the use of exaggeration in portraiture and illustration in order to convey humour and provoke reaction. I work from images found in newspapers or on the internet, embellishing and amplifying grotesque features to create works that are difficult to look at yet endearing at the same time. I am examining how bold imagery and fantasy can invite an audience into my opinions and standing in the world. I am interested in abjection and irony. Ideas of the ugly and the beautiful as an oxymoron are evident within my work along with the psychological borderline state and status of the artist.
My work is informed by the everyday. I draw inspiration from images or artefacts that may seem unimportant, but ultimately have a use. In the last three years my sources have developed from taking images from ‘Real Life’ publications, to flippant articles in newspapers or creating sources myself. I have also begun to draw on personal experience as inspiration for my work, enhancing the feeling of humility as an artist. Key influences in my way of working have been the Chapman Brothers, Grayson Perry, David Shrigley and Sarah Lucas. The work of the YBAs has informed my work in the frank and opinionated way in which they present themselves and their work.
My intention is to create a body of work that is both shocking and uncomfortable to look at, while at the same time amusing and, in its own way, beautiful. My work treads carefully between the shocking and informative, and the surreal and flippant. Each element of my work builds up to a well paced joke or anecdote, I see the audience’s reaction as the punch line. There is a fine line between comedy and tragedy, especially as I use the former to deal with the latter. It is my intention to leave the audience with a reaction, whether it is a smile or an outright laugh. By doing this, it is my hope that the audience gain an insight and understanding as to how I view the world.
I am currently exploring the use of exaggeration in portraiture and illustration in order to convey humour and provoke reaction. I work from images found in newspapers or on the internet, embellishing and amplifying grotesque features to create works that are difficult to look at yet endearing at the same time. I am examining how bold imagery and fantasy can invite an audience into my opinions and standing in the world. I am interested in abjection and irony. Ideas of the ugly and the beautiful as an oxymoron are evident within my work along with the psychological borderline state and status of the artist.
My work is informed by the everyday. I draw inspiration from images or artefacts that may seem unimportant, but ultimately have a use. In the last three years my sources have developed from taking images from ‘Real Life’ publications, to flippant articles in newspapers or creating sources myself. I have also begun to draw on personal experience as inspiration for my work, enhancing the feeling of humility as an artist. Key influences in my way of working have been the Chapman Brothers, Grayson Perry, David Shrigley and Sarah Lucas. The work of the YBAs has informed my work in the frank and opinionated way in which they present themselves and their work.
My intention is to create a body of work that is both shocking and uncomfortable to look at, while at the same time amusing and, in its own way, beautiful. My work treads carefully between the shocking and informative, and the surreal and flippant. Each element of my work builds up to a well paced joke or anecdote, I see the audience’s reaction as the punch line. There is a fine line between comedy and tragedy, especially as I use the former to deal with the latter. It is my intention to leave the audience with a reaction, whether it is a smile or an outright laugh. By doing this, it is my hope that the audience gain an insight and understanding as to how I view the world.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
