'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

'Visit Palestine'

An exhibition by James Doherty & Yoshi, featuring images from there visit to Palestine, and wall drawings from Callum Monteith.

'Behind Walls Are Memories'

6ft x 4ft Painting: Wooden Pallet, Wallpaper, Paper, Magazine/Newspaper Cut Outs, Cardboard, Toy Doll, Photographs, Paint, Ink, Oil Pastel, Pencil, Tape.

'Efil Warding'

3ft x 6ft Painting: Wooden Pallet, Wood, Canvas, Paint Lid, Photographs, Death Notice, Pencil, Oil Pastel, Spray Paint, Paint.

'Berlin Frosch'

3ft x 3ft Painting: Window Frame, Canvas, Photographs, Letters, String, Poster, Tyres, Books, Plastic, Spray Paint, Paint.


This piece was made shortly after a trip to Berlin, and focuses on the the culture that I encountered there. I was overawed by the sheer diversity of the city, I had never been to a place where you could find historical landmarks like the Berlin Wall, around the corner from alternative art galleries exhibiting contemporary art in old factory buildings. What I saw excited me, it was like some utopian world that I had come across, like some dream from which I did not want to awake. I collected objects form a 'floh markt' that I visited, which in itself was full of an unimaginable amount of treasure. I wanted to try and capture what I saw there and use this piece as a shrine, or a memorial as it were. This idea was made more important by it being my birthday while I was there, a landmark represented by my being, of which will eventually have a contrasting memorial of a tombstone as the date of my death. I wanted to place the piece on the floor (not on the wall like conventional paintings), to represent the 'Treschelles Gallery' that I visited, a hub of alternative art and music. I then attached objects which I had acquired on my trip and then wrote the date of my time there. I like to think of it as physical memory.

'Path (in form of obstacle course)'

Stills from 'Path (in form of obstacle course)'

Performance/Video/Installtion: Barriers, Bottles, Hammer, Computer Screen, Toys, Lights, Barrels, Canvas, Books, String, Car Bumper, Ladders, Sunglasses, Bricks, Toy Doll, Wood, Paper, Paint, Pencil, Oli Pastel.


I am interested in the concept of paths. They take many forms and cross each other in different ways, depending on their form. The human mind is trained to follow paths as, for the idea that it leads to somewhere, but it is not always sure where it leads to. It can be compared to vechiles, such as the train, which has a set track on which it runs. The only difference being that humans do not have a set track that they follow, or do they? Because we can't see it, doesn't mean it is not there. For instance, an aeroplane still follows a set course, even though unlike the train, there is no physical path laid out for it to work on. This brings up the question about the importance of paths, and of following them. We do it without knowing, a simple walk to the toilet is like walking down a flight of stairs, or through a dirt track in a forest. The human brain sees each path and the body follows accordingly.

For this piece, I wanted to focus on the biggest path of all: life. There has always (and still is) a great debate about whether we are following a path laid out for us by some higher power, or whether we make the path as we go along. Either way, the path still exists. We leave a trail behind us of footsteps, moments, rubbish, smells, scars, phrases, laughter, pain, pictures, objects, songs, the list is endless. I decided to collect random objects that I encountered on various journeys, and ones that I had already in my possession. I then assembled an obstacle course consisting of these objects, and proceeded to follow this path that I had laid out for myself. The idea of assembling an obstacle course was meant to represent the everyday challenges that we have to overcome when following each path that we take. I would record my actions whilst going around the obstacle course, of which were both pre-meditated and improvised, in order to be relevant to normal situations. When I had finished, what was left was a trail of broken bottles, smashed computer screen, painted walls, amongst other things. This represented the trail. I left it as it was, and then projected the film through the installation on to the back screen, which still had paint and writing on it from my performance, in order to create a ghostly atmosphere. The final result was a viewing of the past, present and future. The video allowed the audience to see how this 'bombsight' had come to exist, but also by watching the video, could see what was about to happen to an already destroyed object. Each member followed my every move round my path, both through the video and through their own imagination, examining the obstacle course itself.