What inspired the name of the show?
I have always been interested in consumerism and have often tinkered about with words and their phonetic sounds when I have titled work – The words have to lend themselves to the art piece and what it is engaging with. The show presents a selection of works that reflect upon the state of the world at the time of the global economic downturn of 2008. Some of my pieces use mirrors explicitly for this reason as part of the visual language and I thought it would be fitting to use an ‘it-does-what-it-says-on-the-tin’ approach towards the name of the show.
Who or what are your influences?
I am heavily influenced by pre modern artists such as Hieronymus Bosch and Pieter Bruegel and love the works of Dadaist and Surrealist Max Ernst – I love collage and am fascinated with some of the mark making techniques such as ‘decalcomania’ that Ernst and Salvador Dali employed in their work to tap into the subconscious to evoke ‘phantom images’ in the onlookers mind.
What is the role of the artist in times of austerity?
For me, it’s to encourage critical thinking about our existence and the experience of living within the creative and destructive cycles of late capitalism where everything has been commoditised – including art itself.
Who excites you right now?
Aidan Salakhova – her quasi-religious paintings and sculptures are sublime. Also, Ashley Bickerton’s composite photo/painting parodies greatly inspire me as do the exquisitely detailed screen prints of Dan Hillier that are currently being displayed at the Saatchi Gallery.
Hope for 2017?
For world peace and prosperity to all! I am also excited to continue with the work that I have been developing and photo-harvesting for the last few years, it’s called ‘No Horoscope’. It’s now in the preparatory stages where I have lots of labour intensive, digital cutting and editing of photographs to get through. The works are going to be large scale allegorical compositions engaging with themes concerning the human condition and technology.
