'You Wear Your Face Like A T-Shirt'

Here's images of my most recent project. They aren't the best quality, and I haven't framed them yet, but I just thought I'd get them up for you to be able to check them oot! I'll upload the revised images soon!

'Outside/Inside'

'Outside/Inside' is a piece that analyses the activity inside the home. There can be rows, even blocks of houses that appear identical in the exterior, and there are homes that can be total polar-opposites sitting side by side. The one thing that every building has that is unique though lies within. How we decorate our homes reflects strongly about who we are. We project ourselves onto the character of the interior, aiming to create a nest for ourselves to feel safe and comfortable in. Our behavior in many ways is affected also when inside our homes, as we feel secure enough to act more liberally than how we would outside. I know that I am not alone when I say that when I walk along the street, I often wonder what the interior to the houses that I am walking past are like, or what is going on behind those doors, walls and windows. I took this idea and pursued it in this piece by constructing a structure which acts as a representation of a home. I then painted a brick wall onto one side of the canvas and a room onto the other. Finally, I projected videos of ordinary activities that occur in the home aiming to give the viewer an x-ray vision of what is going on inside. When looking at the piece, the vouyeuristic connotations tare easy to see. Though there is no activity that delves into the sexual, the idea of being able to see into somebody's personal space still remains.

This is my latest piece of work, and is still under construction. The images above are for documentation purposes only, and do not represent the true and final appearance of the piece. Above the structure I would hang a roof, further producing a clearer imagery of the aesthetics of a house. Secondly, I would extend the video, with a better variation of events, so to create a more accurate representation of the activities inside a home. The canvas itself is not complete; on one side I would work more on the painting and on the other I would attach windows to it, exaggerating the idea of the X-ray vision. Once these tasks are carried out, will it only be completed.

'Grand-Ad'

'Grand-Ad' is a painting that deals with the issue of the influence that our family have on our identity. For this work I studied my Grandad, who in many ways I am resemble. We are similar in the points of; our life patterns (up to the point at which I am now), physical features, personalities and habits. I approached this painting in an abstract manner, as it was not just one specific aspect that I wanted to communicate, and so the result is a merging of them all. There is what looks like a cigarette which deals with the habitual aspect, and this relates to the circle that appears to be a heart which deals with the physical. The metamorphoses of the face again deals with the physical, as it suggests my growing into him. The boldness of the yellow suggests energy, whilst the calm of the white and pink communicate intellect and peace. The grey included in the painting, brings forward the idea of decay and old age, possibly signifying my fear at the prospect of losing my youth. The bold black lines weigh the painting down, and could possibly represent strength or boldness, whilst the black line around the eye vision. The overall chaos of the painting still remains to retain a sense of harmony, and can be seen to bring the two figures (my Grandad and myself) into one form.

'Tribute to HGH'

'Tribute to HGH' is a reflective and commemorative piece, that acts as a monument to my time in Germany and to the home that I built for myself whilst there. After I deconstructed 'Haus Grosse Haus' I retained materials from the installation and constructed them into a sculpture that would resemble the previous work, but signify it's death. The point of constructing it and installing it in the exact location as it's predecessor, was intentional and relevant for the meaning of the piece, although I realise that since both were in my studio space this is an obvious pattern. The idea is something that I retain however. I like the notion of creating a work, exhibiting it, dismantling it and then creating a piece using the materials from the previous work into a new piece and exhibiting that. Here I have done that to some extent, but in the future it is a process that I may investigate further.

'Word/Wort'

'Word/Wort' uses found books that I collected in Germany, and in this work I aim to penetrate the barriers of communication and knowledge. I took the books and opened them up on random pages, then with a nail attached them to the wooden canvas so to symbolize the killing of literature and language. I then used an identical technique from my earlier piece, 'Haus Grosse Haus', where I smeared paint over the texts in order to delete them. This represented my relationship with the German language and the complexities I had with communicating. The viewer could not read the texts and therefore not understand what it was that they were saying, mirroring my experience.

'Haus Grosse Haus'

5ft x 7ft x 7ft Installation: Wood, Road Signs, Duck Tape, Posters, Newspapers, Magazines, Shopping Bags, Plastic, Linoleum, Doors, Wallpaper, Windows, Mirror, Nails, Table, Chair, Carpet, Nails, Clock, Toilet Seat, Radiator, Suitcases, Paint, Oil Pastel, Pencil.

In 'Haus Grüße Haus', I focus on my time spent living in Germany. I wanted to create a piece that reflected on some of the experiences that I had encountered myself, but also to try and create an almost theatrical piece invited the audience to step out of their own world and into a realm of mystery. I wanted to draw influence from artists such as Allan Kapprow with his installations and theatre; Jonathan Meese with his flamboyant works of painting, photography and performance and the multimedia works by Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller. This I intended to do by combining painting, architecture, sculpture and installation. I would build a home for myself in Germany, with furnishing, wallpaper, and decorations forming a relation to my home on the inside. The aim, to create a space of comfort and security for myself, escaping from the harsh realities laying in wait for me on the outside. The exterior would therefore purposefully be a contrast. It would be about Germany and everything that I associated with it, the language, the media, and how I struggled to understand any of it. The main aim was to communicate to the viewer all a sense of confusement and fear. A cage like structure helped to emphasise my sense of isolation. With the aim of relating to this, I attached and then manipulated various bits of German media and literature, which appeared like an enigma.

Various Drawings/Studies