“It is a great privilege to be able to work with, and I suppose work off, my feelings through sculpture.” Louise Bourgeois
Artist Statement.
I am a sculptor because I know what it is like to not be able to use my hands due to a condition known as ‘Cervical Ribs’, which is where I have two extra ribs in my neck; and working through sculpture allows me to fully express myself physically and mentally. My work is very personal as it’s about my body and its relationship to the world around me, how I respond to different aspects of life, my main topics are related to how I personally deal with things that are a part of everyone’s lives, from consumerism, spirituality and especially medication. In all of these things I am looking at how elements of these things can make us feel better but also that they can have side effects and in my work I aim to address both the positive and the negatives I have experienced and in doing that attempt to address how I feel about that subject and not necessarily get answers or closure, but like Louise Bourgeois says in my opening quote I am trying to “work off” those feelings I have while I’m creating each body of work.
Another important part of my work is the process I have to go through to get to the point where I feel I can put on an exhibition of each body of work. I try to fully explore my material of choice whether it is the first time I have used it or the hundredth time, it’s all about building up the relationship between the material and the individual piece within each body of work. Depending on the work I enjoy using plaster, wax, silicone rubber, resins with fillers and metal, when using these materials I prefer to keep the natural aesthetic of the material as they are all very neutral in colour as I feel this allows what I am communicating to come through and not be lost in crazy colours and patterns.
As well as choosing the perfect material another integral part of the process is the casting and mold making that goes into every individual work and again deciding the best way to go about doing so which depends on what kind of outcome I am aiming for in the final piece. It could take a couple of months trying of various materials and experimenting before finding something that encapsulates what I want to say with each art work and through experiments that changes and evolves which is what makes sculpture so exciting for me I start in one place and I end up some where I never imagined but it works.
My work very much relates to the body, specifically my body. Whether I have literally cast my body, created works related to the heights or widths of my body and I curate a lot the work I make in relation to my body. By doing this I feel it gives my work an interesting relationship to the space it is placed in, as well as giving a sense of my presence in the work itself.
Another important part of my work is the process I have to go through to get to the point where I feel I can put on an exhibition of each body of work. I try to fully explore my material of choice whether it is the first time I have used it or the hundredth time, it’s all about building up the relationship between the material and the individual piece within each body of work. Depending on the work I enjoy using plaster, wax, silicone rubber, resins with fillers and metal, when using these materials I prefer to keep the natural aesthetic of the material as they are all very neutral in colour as I feel this allows what I am communicating to come through and not be lost in crazy colours and patterns.
As well as choosing the perfect material another integral part of the process is the casting and mold making that goes into every individual work and again deciding the best way to go about doing so which depends on what kind of outcome I am aiming for in the final piece. It could take a couple of months trying of various materials and experimenting before finding something that encapsulates what I want to say with each art work and through experiments that changes and evolves which is what makes sculpture so exciting for me I start in one place and I end up some where I never imagined but it works.
My work very much relates to the body, specifically my body. Whether I have literally cast my body, created works related to the heights or widths of my body and I curate a lot the work I make in relation to my body. By doing this I feel it gives my work an interesting relationship to the space it is placed in, as well as giving a sense of my presence in the work itself.