My degree show space is an exhibition of the questions that I have been tackling throughout the year, I have intentionally not titled any of the work as I like the ambiguity of its arrangement, I think the space asks questions about its position, is it a collection of sculptures? Is it an installation? This echoes my tireless search for my own position and voice within my art work and I think this openess to interpretation is a good indicator of the honesty with which I try to create works.
The space is intentionally sparse, I believe that the negative space is as important as the objects themselves, I am interested in space and how I use it, how the objects use it and how the viewer could use it. I have changed the objects and the arrangements in the space countless times and somehow this one felt right. In the studio I always create works fairly quickly and then spend much more time staring at the objects and thinking, when I went through this process with my degree show I began to think about how we use other spaces and how objects there are arranged. Somehow it feels to me when I am in the space that one wall is left almost completely bare and it is only when I am standing in the empty space that the work is completed.
The roughly applied paint seems to become a metaphor for the transience of my works and the idea any moment of satisfaction and fulfilment with the work is fleeting and as such always unfinished and changing.
The black board on the right hand side is, to me, very humorous… the small triangular leaflet that is crudely stuck to the board is actually a leaflet for the Jerwood Painting Fellowship, it is stuck on with black paint roughly applied over the top. I suppose having the leaflet on my painted board is a way of asking whether or not it is a painting, again I have been playing with where the boundaries of definition lie. It makes me laugh because it is somehow mocking my own work, it is accepting what it is – a roughly painted board – and yet by having that particular leaflet on the board I am asking what is important, I suppose it is a question of value. It is a comment on my disinterest with skill and my interest in exploring what I can do with objects.
The show is completely made of everyday objects and I think this echoes my awareness that life and art are inseparable, the humble, simple nature of the materials appeals to me as I feel it gives the work a humaness that I – and hopefully the viewer – can relate to, it raises questions of use and value.
