Leadlights

The following is my old artist statement, I think I used this one to get into the Slade... artist statements are so strange for me because if I could say what I meant in words I wouldn't make sculpture... nevertheless, does go some way towards summing this work up:

Gravitating towards states of matter - crystallisation, extrusion, decay – my work investigates the discordance between the basic physical elements of the natural world and the development of synthetic materials, media, and the built and virtual environments that shape our daily lives.

All the colours of the rainbow can be derived from coal. For ‘Leadlights’ I consider windows as a method of illuminating interiors whilst excluding the weather. I place this alongside the transition of the diamond pattern from an economical means of using smaller pieces of material to construct a larger whole, to a decorative design during the arts and crafts movement. The rainbow of artificial light projects through like the light of an electric fire simulating the glow of coal, displaying all the synthetic colours the fossil fuel has given forth and illuminating the motif and flaws in the material. The resin concludes this narrative by encasing the coal and the energy so long contained by it, leaving it inert and preserving only the aesthetic: its blackness.

Plus I guess it's a bit of a trip down memory lane too. I wasn't happy when I made this work, I felt totally invisible.