Artist’s Statement
The richness of seeing is fundamental to my work, the heightened awareness of beauty and the recognition of splendour. Aldous Huxley stated that only some have ‘extra sensory perceptions’ in The doors to perception, 1954. There is ‘a world of visionary beauty’ he said, that some are simply unaware of or unfamiliar with. My work aims to beautify an object so that it appears so exquisite, it is outside our reach.
I choose objects that typify indulgence and excess, and that were primarily created during the eighteenth century to appeal to the human desire and its senses. I want to expose adornment, to embrace the decorative, and generate a presence from the inanimate. I engage with the values they possess and search for ways to use paint with the same indulgent and excessive touch as that of the objects’ creator. Essentially, I want to learn how paint can mimic the sumptuous surfaces and enjoy how it echoes the lavish and affluent lifestyle of those in the Rococo period.
Decoration also allows me to play around with the abstract. I am liberated in some areas, patterns develop into chaos and lines become unclear. There is a conflict between losing control in the process so that it becomes abstract, and trying to make sense of what is happening to define what is exactly there. The combination of the figurative and abstract is fairly new and exciting; I see how it animates the objects and offers more for the eye to meditate upon.
My work is about weight and creating a sense of gravity to defy the flatness of a surface. Proportion and accuracy are not important, I want to blow up and expand the object as if I was pumping a balloon with air, I am not concerned with creating an exact representation so that the ratios and scale match the original. The burgeoning 3D object, enlarged, takes hold of the centre stage and is taken from its original context. The eradication of a specific surrounding invites universality, and an unidentified space where the isolated object becomes the focus and the space is left to be imagined.
When observing these objects, I am constantly reminded of the female body. The voluptuous, weighty forms of the vase are deliberately exaggerated and rendered to evoke physicality and materiality. I wish to lay bare the sinuous, organic and sensuous curves, whilst also exposing their bloated and swollen forms.
Artist’s such as Laura Owens, Karen Kilimnick, Lisa Milroy, Jeff Koons and Grayson Perry have been very influential in the past two years.
I continue to use images referencing the Rococo and Baroque periods and after securing strict permission, I have documented various objects from Stately homes around England; Blenheim palace, Basildon Park and Kensington Palace are just some of the places I have visited. Most recently, the antiquities in various galleries such as Mayfair, New York and Budapest have been profoundly stimulating and useful.
Initially, the extravagance and excessive materiality fascinated me and so I wanted to evoke the lure of the antique, but now I want to find a place for them in the contemporary world.