'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.

'Twin Memories'

4ft x 3ft (plus scrolls attached) Painting: Wood, Wood Carving, Nails, Scrolls, Pencil, Paint.


Memories are something that we all have. They are implants on ourselves, and affect us immensely in our day to day lives. They can be triggered instantly by the sight of something that we associate with a past time. They help us to grow friendships, affections and personalities. When we hear a song on the radio that triggers a happy memory of a certain place or time, we will like the song more, no matter how good or bad it is. Likewise, it works for other emotions and physical feelings. We can even feel sick at the sight of something that we see, that may not be necessarily disgusting itself, but what memory we have associated with it will in turn make it revolting to us. Then there is the other related matter of de ja vus. We can experience this sensation at any given moment, and can last for no set duration. It is an experience of reliving an event, or moment in time that we are sure we have already previously. We recognise everything that is going on, but we cannot describe what it is that we is recognisable, nor can we trace back where or when we have had the identical experience. Where memories are stored, or why we only select certain memories from others is something that is really interesting also. It is almost like a cinema in our own mind, replaying the film of previous recordings.

For this piece, I wanted to focus on the aspect of selective memory. I wanted to write on the two scrolls about memories that I had associating my twin brother. One of the scrolls would be my recollections of memories of him, from as early back as I could remember. The other would be the same, only about myself. I intentionally did not try to trigger any memories prior to beginning the task, as I wanted it to be spontanious, thus making it as valid as possible to my normal state. It therefore became part performance, part painting.

It was a really fascinating experience! I started off writing on his scroll first, but soon found that it would be impossible to try and proceed to only concentrate on one scroll at a time, as when I would remember something on one scroll it would instantly trigger a memory for the other. Also, what developed was a crazy pinball style of memory, where I would be recollecting memories and all of a sudden I would remember something that belonged much further back up the scroll, therefore having to go back and squeezing it in where it belonged. This pattern never changed throughout the whole performance, and I soon began to feel myself becoming affected mentally by the sheer concentration on recollecting memories and pressure on my brain having to work so hard. It was not long before I ran out of scroll to write memories that I had. This experience amazed me, as it really made me think about how much must be stored within me, that is lying their without my knowing and what else could be in their also.

For the painting aspect of the piece, it was partially inspired by Jack Kerouac's 'On The Road' (which I was reading at the time). He produced the original manuscript on one single scroll measuring 120 feet. Kerouac produced the continuous scroll by taping pages of semi-translucent paper together to feed the typewriter and write without interruption. The text is single-spaced, without paragraphs, and edited in pencil by Kerouac. I wanted to use this free-flowing style, as it was relevant and essential for the piece. I would then attach the scrolls to the painting, which hung form the wall, and have it spilling over the balcony of the exhibition space from where it would be exhibitied. This would symbolize the idea of memories being vast and flowing. Ideally, I would have like to use longer scroll, so long that it would appear as madness. But this is something that I can take into my future work regarding the topic.

'Home Sweet Home'

Installtion: Wallpaper, Carpet, Wood, Magazine/Newspaper Cut Outs, Colouring In Books, Power Socket, Tyres, Tin Cans, Ladders, Wire, Photgraph, Model, Chair, Paint Pots, Nails, Door, Pencil, Coffee, Wine, Ink, Dirt, Rust, Hair, Dust, Paint.

'Home Sweet Home' was a really important piece for me, as it reflected a lot of the thoughts and feelings that I felt at the time, but also revolutionized my approach to my work. I had only recently discovered Allan Kaprow, who's work really opened my eyes in terms of what art can be and how we can bring art and life closer together. Kaprow believed that art was life and that life was art. Through his work, he tried to show people the world that was going on around them, even the minute and mundane. At this point, I had only really encountered his enviroments, without much knowledge about his happenings, interventions and actions (this I would later go on to discover). His 'unart' style really jumped out at me, I loved how he would use materials that were considered to be waste, or expendable. For me, this made the work more accessible, as it was objects that we all used and had some relation to. Also, the fact that people were invited to enter the work, become submerged by it and part of it was really interesting, as I favour this approach to that of having to stand back from a piece and be scared to touch it or even go near it.

I drew meanings from previous works, like 'Broken Home' and 'Twin Memories', where I wanted to focus on personal experiences and memories. My home situation had changed drastically over the period of a year, and I soon began to find that my studio space felt more like my 'home' than anywhere else. The fact that, this 'space' was not technically my own, as it belonged to the Edinburgh College of Art, and there were rules and regulations about what I could do to the space was something that affected me. The matter of ownership was what I wanted to try and communicate. I wanted to tell everybody that this was my home and there was nothing that they could do to alter that, almost like a squatter.

I began by gathering materials that I could find, which I would be able to make a home out of. Such things like, wallpaper, carpet, a door and photographs. Then I wanted things that made the space homely for me, such as tyres, ladders, tin cans, paint pots and other such materials. I then began to make my home by covering the walls with wallpaper, posters, drawings, paint and writings. The writings were of personal thoughts and feelings, trying to in a sense stamp myself upon the space. The floor I covered with carpet and wooden planks, trying to make it comfortable for myself and taking the conceptual design of a home into consideration. It all came together to create a space that felt more like home for me than anywhere had before, in it I felt safe and relaxed. At home. Once finished and satisfied with the piece, I held a 'house warming/party', where I invited people to come into my home and look at the piece more closely, all the while trying to make them feel at home.

It was a sad day when I had to 'move out'. The funny thing was that when I cleared the space, you could clearly see the ruins of what had been my home. It had stains of my decoration and still had the more important aspect that it held memories for me that no one could take away from me.

'Broken Home'

70cm x 90cm Collage: Cardboard, Duck Tape, Photograph, Paper, Magazine Cut Outs, Paint, Oil Pastel.

5ft x 4ft Collage: Card, Cardboard, Bubble wrap, Bed Sheets, Paint Lids, Paint Tubes, Paint.

2ft x 4ft Collage: Wood, Cardboard, Binbags, Bubblewrap, Card, Paint.

2ft x 5ft Collage: cardboard, binbags, bedsheets, card and paint.