Pandora's Box (snakes) 1999, mixed media and oil |
The "Pandora's Box"
series (1998-1999) was produced for my Masters' degree. The work is
concerned with evoking feelings of ambivalence through the chosen subject
matter of insects and reptiles, which are often regarded as both
fascinating and horrible, attractive and repellent.
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| Through the inclusion of boxes attention is drawn to acts of revealing/exposing and concealing and the ambivalence associated with them. The consequence of such actions is perhaps most immediately brought to mind by the myth of Pandora's Box. | Pandora was believed to have been made in heaven and thus extremely beautiful and blessed by the gods. However, her action of opening the box in defiance of a divine injunction let loose all the evils and infinite calamities of the world. |
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My current body of work, "Fragments" takes sea creatures as its theme. In "Fragments: Octopus" the surface of the board has been modeled to suggest an aerial landscape. The entire animal is not depicted. In this way the representation is fragmented. The title also suggests a certain unease and perhaps alludes to a sense of loss and pain. Many of the works consist of more than one part, further highlighting the sense of fragmentation. |
| Fragments: Octopus 2000, mixed media and oil |
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| Fragments: Jellyfish 2001, mixed media and oil |
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| Fragments: Sea
Raven 2001, mixed media and oil
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| Aperture I 2000, pastel on paper | Aperture II 2000, pastel on paper |
| In 2000 I started producing
pastel drawings. This was largely due to my stay at Hospitalfield
House, Arbroath. While there I produced the paired works
"Aperture I" and "Aperture II". I worked from
images of fish eyes in the upper half of each work while handling the
lower section in a different way.
By fracturing the images, a sense of mystery is created. "Aperture" refers to the image of the eye as well as to the eye of the camera which fractures and distorts. |
In "Aperture I " the lower area is taken from a photograph of a rope I took on Arbroath beach. There is a connection to the upper part of the drawing as both images images have a relation to the sea. However, I found the discarded rope to be 'alien'. In the same way the lower section of "Aperture II" is somewhat alien. During the making of this work my father died. I took as my reference a rotten peach I had discovered which in its advanced state of decay did not much resemble a fruit. |
In Broken Images 2001, pastel on paper |
In broken images Robert Graves
He is quick, thinking in clear images; I am slow, thinking in broken images.
He becomes dull, trusting to his clear images; I become sharp, mistrusting my broken images.
Trusting his images, he assumes their relevance; Mistrusting my images, I question their relevance.
Assuming their relevance, he assumes the fact; Questioning their relevance, I question the fact.
He continues quick and dull in his clear images; I continue slow and sharp in my broken images.
He in a new confusion of his understanding; I in a new understanding of my confusion. |
| The title "In Broken Images" is taken from a poem by Robert Graves. The drawing was executed on four separate sheets of paper. I worked from four photographs I had taken of a tree. Together the fragmented pieces come together creating a semi-abstract and ambiguous image. | |