Photograph 012020

Original image of photograph

Photography has allowed me to capture an instance in a delicate relationship of unstable equilibrium as a sensual physical essence. It is a conversation between the lens and the sculpture. The process involved in the making of the image and its subject has acquired a special significance during the coronavirus crisis during which the sculpture has been confined to the studio. I see it as an equation. The geometric supporting forms and the organic piece representing the balance between human activity and Nature. The vulnerability of this system is embodied in the fragility of the porcelain in its unfired state and slight touching of the forms. Natural light coming primarily from above is an active vertical element contrasting with the passive horizontal aspects of the arrangement. The intention is to create a sense of stasis as an active waiting and being.

The various components in this photograph were modelled at various times. The large piece was completed in the Summer of 2019. The other two pieces, stacked on top of the other are support stands for two other sculptures. When arranging the large form, the tail was loose and needed support to stay in place. I tried to keep the integrity of the material in the image and decided to use the two supports. I was fascinated by how later works came in the support of the earlier one and how the sense of equilibrium as I placed the components reflected the idea of dynamic equilibrium I see all around me. I chose the predominantly top light from a window because of the soft light casting shadows directly beneath the forms. This creates a vertical aspect to the image that contrasts with the passive horizontal dynamics.

Title

Fulcrum

Date

2020

Medium

Photograph

Technique

Modelled porcelain forms in an arrangement

Size

Variable. File size approximately 4000 x 6000 px

Conservation

Good

Location

Artist’s studio

History

The image was used in the MA blog journal and the final online MA show. It was submitted as an entry for the 2020 Saatchi MA Fine Art exhibition at the private museum in London. Result pending.

Compiled by

AR

Creature 0012018

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Title

Date

2018

Medium

Terracotta, epoxy resin, gold leaf, wax

Technique

Modelled and burnished

Conservation

Good

Location

Artist’s studio

History

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Compiled by

AR

Vessel 032020

This artwork is informed by recollections of an ancient marble statue of the Ephresian Artemis I saw at the Vatican Museum which shows the goddess of fertility adorned with what are thought to be either many breasts or bulls’ testicles.

The vessel is coiled and each modelled head is applied as if decoratively, open-mouthed in a silent shout reflecting the angst that emerges with our separation from nature. The head in this form is a recurring motif which stems from my first encounter with Caravaggio’s Head of Medusa, and can also be reflected in Munch’s Scream. This expression embodies what I believe to be a response to existential questions and relevant in the current crisis of our Anthropocene age.

Also influenced by Benin bronzes which I first came across at the Museum of Mankind before it was moved from behind the Royal Academy to the British Museum in Holborn, the heads are partly modelled on my own head the artist maker, as in Michelangelo’s portrait of himself in the Last Judgement in the Sistine Chapel.

The vase could be taken for a funerary urn and reflects my fascination for archaeology and in particular artefacts of Etruscan and Egyptian origin. I have used terracotta clay for its fragility in its fashioned form notwithstanding the immense durability as a mineral material. the piece belongs to the past in inspiration as much as it does to the future in its prescience.

Title

I Lie Still But Cannot Die / Corona Vase

Date

2019

Medium

Terracotta

Technique

Modelled and burnished

Conservation

Good

Location

Artist’s studio

History

Modelled during the Summer of 2017, it lay unfinished until the Summer of 2020 after the completion of the MA at Camberwell. It features in my symposium I during the course but has not been shown to date. It is one of a set of three such vessels begun at the same time and completed at various times. This is the last piece to be fired.

Compiled by

AR