Size: 50cm x 50cm
The re-appropriation of photographic material in relation to more graphic representations creates a kind of semiotic tension and in my most recent series, I have utilised drawing and tracing techniques to explore the nature of representation in dialogue with how we perceive reality. This series which is currently untitled appropriates film stills from Vietnam War films and the American TV series ‘Madmen’. While initially looking at space in these texts I have become drawn to space in relation to the human figure while examining contexts and framing devices. Something developing in my work is a desire to explore depictions of actual spaces in relation to mental spaces. This particular series of works looks at Pop Art’s predisposition to accept Western industrialisation in contrast with some of the effects of capitalism in action (other than pure commercialisation). I think of this as a guiding force of how our experience is organised and how we experience our psychological and cultural existence which is largely defined by our economic system. (For better or worse) I like to think of this as a kind of cognitive dissonance of capitalism. This particular looks at Western capitalist economics through the lens of an American office culture of the 60s contrasted with the harsh realities of the Vietnam War. Like the pop artists, I don’t seek to condemn capitalism more rather seek to examine its impacts on a wider spatial context. This work for me seeks to extract a kind essence of the system in action through the lens of media representations. Using photography, drawing, and graphic techniques I seek to utilise and challenge those representations at the same time. How much can we really trust an image and who is the author are important questions.
Exploring psychological and cultural permutations of space guides the focus of my practice. When making work I think about how changing the context of space can relocate it into a new spectrum of reference.
My work is deeply embedded in the appropriation of images and material. I see this as a kind of recycling of possible meaning that touches on both the personal and the cultural.
The work is influenced by popular culture and Pop Art and questions of representation while breaking things down and rebuilding them in a somewhat surreal vision.
The work engages with drawing, printmaking, and digital practices.
