Frances Carlile

Artist statement

My work consists of sculpture and print and is concerned with ideas of quietness, solitude and absence. I am interested in reverie and space, both imaginative space and physical space. Objects from everyday life together with small figures and elements of landscape occur frequently in my work and are used as motifs in their own right. I also use landscape in conjunction with these individual motifs in order to construct small scenarios, or fragments of narrative. Narrative can be used as a device to extend space and time.

In the small format series of prints Stills from Imaginary Fairy Tales landscape is used as a backdrop, an arena or a stage. Within this arena an imaginary protagonist could be enacting a solitary drama. The protagonist could be present in the form of an animal, person or tree, or absent with the stage empty. The beginning and end of the narrative are not important for the work, although sometimes I construct a series of images that could be set in sequence. This could take the form of an artist’s book.

The sculpture is more concerned with responding to the landscape itself. It often includes fragments of found landscape; these are sometimes cast and used in conjunction with carved or constructed elements. The different disciplines of print and sculpture influence each other and can even become part of the same work.