It is sometimes the small, unimportant and often forgotten components of daily life that say the most about us, and which can take on iconic status if we allow them space to do so. Inspiration for my work is sourced from my everyday bewilderment at the objects and images I see, situations and stories I encounter or remember, cultural references, icons & rituals that are part of, yet not exclusive to my own life.
Working across media allows me a wider experimentation with the initial idea for a work, the final work taking either 2d or 3d form in various media, from paint and print to sculpture and actions, produced in both art and non-art materials. This familiar imagery is altered and distorted physically and visually through various changes in scale, material and context, the changes arising from this dualism of the familiar/unfamiliar and expected/unexpected, these interruptions can be unsettling, unexpected and unwelcome intrusions into the safety and reliability of our personal and cultural references.
Some of the source material holds an iconic status in its own right, Hitchcock's the birds, references to Dorothy's red shoes, are set beside other imagery that before only existed as "ordinary", a "welcome" sign, discarded ornament, felt tip pens and foodstuffs, all sources are treated with the same reverence. As prominent icons hold cultural and personal significance so do the non-iconic sources hold as much information about us, articles and entities we imbue with the importance of nostalgic reminders, as a vessel in which to place our memories, our identity, our yearnings. It is this thought of our non-use objects as containers that is of interest to me, how an object seems to "speak" to us, what qualities we perceive and how we read it. The dialogue we have with an object or image becomes a dialogue taken with ourselves and with others who understand the same visual language - simply the object becomes a mirror to ourselves and our society. It is these relationships we forge, this personal discourse that becomes entwined with wider culturally understood discourse, which is of interest to me. Simply; what do our cultural objects reveal about us.
