I'd like to thank the judges and organisers of The Cult House for selecting me to be one of the twelve exhibiting artist in the Its Art Call 2018 exhibition, which runs from 31st October - 9th November, at the After Nyne gallery in Holland Park, London. I'd also like to congratulate friend and fellow artist, Oskar Krajewski, for winning the solo show which will open on the 20th November at the same venue.The three pieces that I will be exhibiting in the show are Tattooed Tumour Box, Planetoid 210, and Orifice Tower.
Tattooed Tumour Box evolved from my interest in applying organic-looking structural developments (that have gone awry) to geometric forms. In this case I have taken as my inspiration the mechanism of a cancer cell, where growth has gone unchecked and produced an unstable-looking, asymmetrical form. The 'tattooed' element of the piece harks back to growing up with a tattooist father but the style of the drawings relate more to my early career as a technical illustrator. As for the subject of the drawings - the starting point was based upon found materials that I had collected for use in future sculptures, but which I chose to morph together or exaggerate beyond recognition.
'Planetoid 210' is a realisation of one of a series of sketches that I had been working on for some time. These sketches all involve architectural structures or towers sitting atop planetoids or spherical bodies that are obviously too small to realistically support them. The original drawing was inspired by something that happened to me whilst I was in Goa, India. I was swimming in the sea and noticed an interesting seed pod floating towards me. And as I picked it up to investigate further a small colony of tiny crabs decided that they must have hit dry land and disembarked onto my hand.
Although it might look like it's just been thrown together all the individual box sections and framework of Orifice Tower have been carefully constructed in such a way that the pieces interlock, creating a deceptively sturdy structure – not that I'm encouraging anyone to try and climb it. Discounting the glue, all the materials used in the construction of this piece (mostly wood but some stone, copper piping and small metal fixings) are recycled – even down to the screws. This isn't purely for environmental reasons. It's mainly because I love the patina and 'resonance' of old materials. A lot of the wood comes from the backs of old picture frames or early to mid-20th Century packing cases from the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
Orifice Tower started out as a quick thumbnail sketch that I drew whilst waiting for a talk to commence at the Jerwood Space in Bankside. At that time I was working on some small sculptures that were basically wooden boxes that incorporated carved apertures or orifices. By this stage I'd become aware of the fact that much of my work was getting smaller and smaller so I decided to remedy this by creating elevated versions of these new Orifice Box sculptures. This also tied in with my love of tower structures.
