This months 'Selected' ArtSelector artist is James Laughton.

Tell us a bit about your artwork, and what you are currently working on.

A vacant space, void of people and associated identity greatly interests me. I find that when a piece of work contains populace it is limiting itself toward the kind of viewer that can interpret or relate to the work. Not only does this cause limitation in interpretation but is placing itself within a point of time, a historical artefact. I find a body of work much more provoking when you can’t place its location, becoming an endless relic.

At the moment I have had to put various projects I want to pursue on hold. Mostly it’s down to the economic unreliability which is greatly affecting the arts and I think you have to be realist with what you want to do and what is feasible. After working various freelance photography jobs I am currently employed as a medical photographer which is quite time consuming. I am keen however to get started on a project concerned with salt mines which should be quite a large project, involving multiple councils nationwide and I hope to begin this in the latter part of next year.

What is your artistic background?

I was primarily interested in computer generated works and I didn’t actually pick up a camera until I was 16. I would say it was the lure of turning what I wanted to see, made possible with the use of a lens, which I guess is what attracted me to computer aided design. My passion for the arts started when I was told, at a young age, I didn’t have to use my hands to create work, I always saw my ability in secondary tools like cameras, and video editing software.

What is your working process, how do you get from idea to finished artwork?

I never seemed to follow a structured process of going from an idea to a finished piece of work. I always started out knowing what I wanted to produce which was followed by a battle of over obsession with the small details. This would entail for months and after a while I would get used to it being my own process I had to deal with. I was told I was stubborn by many which they say is a hindrance to an artist’s work but I just found it second nature.

Who or what has been the biggest influence on you?

It was always the artist that worked with the twilight like Dan Holdsworth, Rut Blees Luxemburg and Gregory Crewdson that gave me inspiration. Holdsworth’s ideas of limiting information you provide the viewer became a foundation in my own thought process.

With regards my most recent works it has been down to memories of watching films from a young age; noticing the way a certain scene was lit was more important than the actual plotline and that always stuck out for me as something peculiar so I always wanted to recreate it.

What’s next for you?

Ideally I would like to find the right balance of continuing my own work whilst still being able to pay the bills. Over the next few years I hope to bring my work to a wider audience, however if this isn’t possible I would carry on producing work for my own needs and interests.

http://www.artselector.com/users/james-laughton
http://www.jameslaughton.com/

Images: Run Time 204 Minutes, Untitled 2008

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