Michael Shaw

Artist statement

My practice incorporates drawing, printmaking, installation and sculpture through resin, inflated PVC, neon, plastics, rubbers and bronze. It increasingly seems driven by the accommodation of perceived paradoxes such as; the invisible, weightless, and seemingly formless object or singular forms with both unity and variation. The latter is made manifest by subtly deflecting the geometries of elemental forms including ellipses, cones, the figure of eight, and the torus. Light and the ability of translucent and transparent form to capture it have become crucial: with edge and membrane equally significant for the definition of geometry and the creation of illusion and ambiguity.

Much recent work has been driven by digital technologies and in particular the 3D CAD software Maya, alongside CAM and rapid prototyping technologies. This has prompted recent additions to my vocabulary including: inflatable transparent sculptures that project spectral shadows; translucent textural rapid-prototyped objects, animated sculptures that explore chameleonic form; and animated drawings that bridge the gap between two and three dimensions by simulating the perambulatory nature of viewing drawing.