Created
Having quite a restrictive model for making sculpture my practice has evolved into a set of criteria for selecting materials or objects and an interest in precarious structures. In an effort to achieve visual simplicity in my work I have made an effort to avoid construction elements and complicating fixtures and fittings. I have known for a long time that I want to make uncomplicated art but it wasn’t until I was tasked with reducing my experiments with balloons and glass to a single note, all elements equal, that the possible extent of simplicity became clear to me. I had always engaged sculpture as a problem of making and this has lead me down the route of nailing and gluing pieces of materials together in an entirely shape focused manner. I have made boxes by screwing six sides together and I have made casts by nailing wood together but time and time again I was left with an object that fell short of expectations. These processes of forcing pieces together seems to invariably distract from the goal, it’s in these decisions to fix together that inaccuracy thrives. Another problem that is solved by avoiding these small processes is the idea of a hierarchy of parts, that some how some of the components are more important than others. Being able to see a screw head or a seam of glue is like seeing behind the curtain, a distracting insight to the truth behind the form. I would like to think that I can continue to make work in which all parts are equal, simultaneously in focus as a whole or at least avoid a sense of important, attention worthy elements and utilitarian functional parts.