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*new work:languages I don't speak*"Experiences"
These boxes are of my most recent series of box assemblages. They are inspired by a French science book that I used as part of my installation in Picardie (the skeleton is resting on it in 'ceci n'est pas mon pere').
In French 'experience' means 'experiment', and to me these boxes embody both meanings of the word. I feel as though I am trying to discover something about myself and my work through these quasi-scientific arrangements of objects....to access, somehow, the secrets of my 'id' via a heuristic working process; to create an individuated taxonomy.
*More of these can be seen here*
"Everything and More"
The following images are of the installation and other work created during my time as artist in residence at the Chateau de Sacy, Picardie, France.
It began as a response to my new surroundings and the dislocation I felt, having been taken out of my familiar spaces. During the course of the residency the room I was building began to represent a childhood of which I have few memories, as well as a nod to every room I lived in - and there have been many - since I left home. As work progressed, however, the whole room grew into a memento mori for my late father, the anniversary of whose death fell during my time there. I was struck by the sadness of his lonely later life, but also the ambivalence of my feeling towards him. I spent a lot of time clearing up after him, and the effort of dealing with and disposing of the mountain of rubbish and collections of objects that he had left behind was almost overwhelming.
The sparseness of the red room with its carefully arranged objects became my way of dealing with my memories of that time, piece by piece. The single chair, facing the box which became the title piece; the collection of smaller boxes, each containing their own collection of objects; the household items, painted white and rendered useless; the flattened beer cans on the threadbare carpet.
At the end of the residency, I used up every scrap of material, dustsheets, old clothes and anything else I had left over to mark out a womb maze on the lawn...there was only one way into this maze, and only one way out again: life, death, and rebirth. The whole residency was an extremely cathartic event, and i did more work in that one month than i had done in several years previously, or indeed since.
*see more images from this residency here*
Public art
Since leaving college in 1989 I have been self-employed as an artist, mainly finding work in the field of public and community arts. Largely mural-based, these projects have been in conjunction with schools, colleges, social services, community groups, assisted accommodations, Mencap groups, youth offending teams, and the prison service.
My community art work has been informed by the peoples and the areas in which I have been working, and is mainly centered on encouraging people to create something for themselves; to participate in the decoration of their own environment.
*see more here*