Artist statement
Lorsen's work explores the notion of finding beauty in the disregarded. This began with an interest in collecting second hand and found objects, considering their stories and narratives, and the place of these objects in a culture of excess and consumerism (things that continue to fascinate the artist). Beauty in the disregarded has expanded to include other aspects of life - wonderous details of the world that are often overlooked, joyful moments in life too easily ignored. Through the use of photography and creative writing Lorsen captures and re-presents the beauty found in the minutiae of life.
From the artist's exploration of the second hand market, Lorsen developed what he calls his own 'charity shop aesthetic' - making pseudo-craft works such as felt pictures and nail and threads. He takes these craft media, themselves disregarded, and reinvents them, injecting them with a new energy and life while bringing them into the realm of fine art.
Lorsen often creates collections – whether of his photographs, the items he has found, or the artworks he makes. Through this method the artist bestows a new level of significance and validation to each individual 'piece'. 'Worthless' things gain a new value and there is a deliberate sense that the collective whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts.
Solo exhibitions
- 2011 The Beauty is in the Detail, LightHouse, Balcony Gallery, Wolverhampton
- 2011 Beauty and the Beach: Landlocked in the Heart of England, Coventry Centre for Contemporary Art, Meriden, Coventry
Group exhibitions
- 2013 Airmail / aviapochta, Museum of Fine Arts, Volgograd, Russia
- 2012 Valedictory, Pluspace, Coventry
- 2011 Interweaving Tales, The Lloyd Gill Gallery, Weston-Super-Mare
- 2011 Art in Shops Trail, Rugby Festival of Culture, Rugby Visitors' Centre, Rugby
- 2011 Everything, Q.E II Conference Centre, Westminster, London
- 2009 Rugby Open, Rugby Museum & Art Gallery, Rugby
- 2009 Art Take Out, Tsang's Kitchen, Oxford
- 2009 The Wall Project, Front Wall, Earlsdon, Coventry
- 2008 Rugby Open, Rugby Art Museum & Art Gallery, Rugby
- 2008 Beauty in the Disregarded, Old Gallery and Museum, Leamington Spa
- 2007 Leamington Open, Leamington Spa Museum & Art Gallery, Pump Rooms, Leamington Spa
- 2007 Rugby Open, Rugby Museum & Art Gallery, Rugby
- 2007 Birmingham open, Gas Hall, Birmingham
- 2006 Normalife limited, Neal’s Yard, Covent Garden, London
- 2005 Gary Seven, The Custard Factory, Birmingham
- 2004 Gluttons for Nourishment, City Space, Birmingham
Degree shows
- 2005 Have a Smashing Time, Birmingham Institute of Art & Design, Margaret Street, Birmingham
Curated projects
- 2010 Journeys into the Disregarded, CCCA (with the Mead Gallery), Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry
- 2009 Beauty in the Disregarded: Beauty in the Disregard-shed, Coventry Centre for Contemporary Art (CCCA), Earlsdon, Coventry
- 2008 Beauty in the Disregarded, Old Gallery and Museum, Leamington Spa
Residencies
- 2012 Beauty in the Disregarded, Highfields School, Wolverhampton
Public commissions
- 2011 Reflections on Belsen Head, Herbert Art Gallery, Coventry
Publications
- 2011 Beauty in the Everyday: The Coventry Haiku Project
- 2010 Beauty in the Disregarded: The Charity Shop Tour
Personal website
