Roger Polley

Artist statement

Having trained as a sculptor but now using the photographic medium: my work links photo images to mark making, three dimensional relief and constructions to develop and extend the boundaries of photographic manipulation and presentation. This is achieved without the aid of digital/computerised technology. Scratching, cutting, ripping, mark making, overlaying, adding texture and developing the shape, format and construction of finished works are central to the working process.

In the creation of ideas I do not necessarily attempt to depict the actual concept of things, but the impression that it makes on one's inner emotions. The single image will be a long way from expressing the composite result. By stepping outside the natural boundaries of the photographic medium I am searching for a totally new synthesis. For me photography is alchemy, seeing photographic vision to form compatible combinations and to generate radical new forms of visual expression.

Work is undertaken in urban and rural environments in the UK and abroad. The chosen sites have to hold something 'special', clicking creative forces in the mind: and not necessarily to do with photography as I am not totally confined to a singular medium.

When working on location one experiences it, putting forward contemporary and contrasting observations which in turn produces imagery that maintains an element of mystery, yet showing some disclosure of reality.Current work is focused around self-publication,and am now working on the Jerusalem Trilogy-Wall,Dome,bits inbetween,due for completion in 2013.

Influences
Poetry, text and image, spiritual and mystical, figurative, abstract expressionism, performance and installations.

Career path
2010/11 Jerusalem and the Wailing Wall (project)
2010/11 Heritage Landscape, Blaenavon, South Wales (project)
2010 The Sketchbook Diaries (limited edition publication)
2010 Sleeping on the edge of a thought (limited edition publication)
2009 In the Shadow of the Cross (2 volume publication)
2007/08 In the Shadow of the Cross (project)
2006 Tutor (photographic image), West Dean College, Sussex
2006 Sequence - the call of the running tide, publication
2005 Burning of Judas (Photographic installation)
2004 Jewish Olsanske Cemeteries, Prague
2004 Applehayes Revisited (photographic response to the Camden Town Group), commission
2004 Secret Gardens, Appledore Arts Festival (installation), commission
2003 In Search of the Sacred (photographic installation), publication
2003 Mind, Body and Memory (reconstructed photo sketches taken from the figure), publication
2003 Two man show (with Andy Goldsworthy), Thelma Hulbert Gallery, Honiton
1979/00 Working collaborations with John Woodman, lecturer, filmmaker, photographer
1997 Surrey Hills Landscape Assessment - Countryside Commission
1995 The Spirit of Nature, Poetry of the Earth, photographic installation, publication
1991/05 Part-time Lecturer, Art and Design, St. Clare's College, Seaton
1977/90 Part-time teaching in secondary schools, special schools and colleges
1977 Art Teachers' Certificate, Goldsmiths College, London
1975 BA Hons, Fine Art (Sculpture), St. Martin's School of Art, London
1972 Fashion Design Diploma, High Wycombe School of Art