| My practice is social art. I use visual arts (figurative
painting, text-objects, installation and performance) to engage audiences in
non-verbal dialogue, which, I hope, will help generate empathy. My recent work
is was a response to the terror war as I receive it in the news. Bombed
cities, victims, talking heads, constant warnings of unspecified terror.
Statistics. Industrial killing machines. Civilian deaths. Armageddon. The end
of the postmodern dream of global peace and prosperity. My practice is immersion in culture,
news and theory; responding with various art practices. I live in a safe
European home, and I have no partisan interest in the local reasons for
conflict. But as a tax paying (weapons funding) member of a democratic nation
that enables bombing distant lands, I’m disillusioned with the rationalism
that led to this tragedy. I’m terrified by the disconnect which enables us to
lead ‘normal’ lives while our bombs kill others. I use art to evaluate, and
to engage in this dialogue. Art is non-verbal philosophy, a way of looking at
the world that avoids word-logic, and instead uses feeling and empathy. My
work seeks truth through meditative and material aspects of art practice. I
undertook an MA in Fine Art at Brighton, because here, I could learn about
cultural theory, while developing my art practice. I am developing a language
that bridges conceptuality and materiality. May we achieve happiness on earth
and beyond. |
Spectre of the Real 