Recycled

Textured

Colourful

Three-dimensional

Assembled

Fun

Detailed

Spontaneous

Time-based

Painterly

My artistic practice currently involves the use of found objects, hence the words ‘recycled,’ and ‘assembled. I like the idea of combining natural forms, e.g. plants and trees, with inorganic forms, e.g. hubcaps, metal, plastic, etc. and looking at the varying forms and patterns (‘textured’). Having recently been interested in installation art, I have become interested in the idea of three-dimensional works and including varied media to best express the objects of focus (e.g. photographs to highlight colour or installation of objects to allow full appreciation of structures).

I have mentioned that my art is ‘time-based’ as I like the idea of continually adding to pieces, e.g. collating more and more found objects and adding on top of them. I like the idea of pieces of art being temporal, changing over time when displayed in a gallery so that different viewers’ experiences are different. The spontaneity of my work depends on the collection of objects and decisions as to what to do with them and how to link them together. Time and chance are therefore a key part in my art, as the collection of objects depends on me being in the right places to find them. I sketch them and write the date and place where they were collected as a form of documentation. The idea of the previous histories of the objects is really interesting to me, again linking to time, as many of the objects that I collect have had past uses and functions which are no longer relevant. For example, I have an old microwave, a broken part of a light and an expired student id card.

I describe my work as ‘fun’ as it often has a playful nature, seeming somewhat random and drawing from overlooked aspects of everyday life. It is ‘detailed’ in that I pay attention to small details of objects that I find and also have thorough object documentation. I am looking at specific shades of colours. Although the image above isn’t ‘painterly,’ I would like to experiment more with the use of paints to recreate textures and colours, and I really love the effect of mixed media added to found objects.