Statement
Statement
Particles in a beam of light
I've always found shadows and glints of light revealing, as if they are manifestations of the inner person, or psychological messages. Art can see through to the meaning of things. I consider moving image an ideal form to explore ideas about our relative experience of time and the pace and rhythms of thinking. I use layers of photography, video and drawing which at times extend into installation and making art contraptions - low-tech objects with destabilised imagery. I bring my background in classical music into my art practice by abstracting and layering music with recordings to make sound for work, waves of acoustics which reflect the pulse and cycles of consciousness and memory.
I often reread The Object Stares Back by James Elkins to think about its central philosophy that vision is a series of illusions: Seeing alters the thing that is seen and transforms the seer. I am fascinated by the process of creativity itself and how the mind interprets what it sees or invents. My work imagines hidden movements behind solid things, as a reminder to my own thinking that nothing is really static, and even the most solidified thought or belief is subject to change. My approach to making is like a complex abstract painting, which, as soon as marks are made, has layers of equations to resolve. There are many processes and thoughts towards the finished work, and there may be myriad solutions, but there is one right one, one expression and ordering of all the elements which brings art together, creating the form and frame of an idea.
Biography
I am an artist making and exhibiting moving image, installation, sound and art contraptions. Born in Glasgow, Scotland, and currently living and working in London, I originally trained in classical music. Using video, photography, recordings, drawing and low-tech construction, my work distils abstract and scientific notions into beautiful insights. I have an MA in fine art (Open College of the Arts 2014) and a BA first-class in fine art (Middlesex 2006). Research interests and a fascination in psychology has currently led me to undertake an Msc in the subject (Hertfordshire). I make gallery-based work, often set up projects for myself, run theViewergallery pop-up for artist projects and moving image screenings, and work as a covert artist in residence. I mentor and tutor, and review and write about books, exhibitions and culture.
Msc psychology, University of Hertfordshire, 2017
MA fine art, Open College of the Arts, University for the Creative Arts, 2014
BA fine art first-class, Middlesex University 2006
Selected exhibitions/screenings/projects/artist/curator
Shadows & Echoes Artist Residency, Crypt Gallery, St Pancras, London 2016
The Archive Project II London, online, 2016
Voice of a Statue The Listening Booth, Collection 2, online 2016
Abridged Covert Artist Residency, Royal College of Music, London 2015-16
Facsimile, Covert Artist in Residence, V&A, London 2015
Embedded, Q-Art 14, APT Gallery, London 2014
Embedded TheNine, MA fine art show, Bank Street Arts, Sheffield 2014
Construction, Myriad, The Future Past Tense, Fringe Arts Bath Festival 2014
Absolute Magnitude II Earth touring, UK, international 2014
Which alters when it alteration finds, Displaced, The Wiener Library, London 2014
Crucial Pursuit! The Financial Planning Game for Artists 2013 ongoing project
The Future Past Tense, Construction Q-Art, Wimbledon College of Art, London 2013
The Future Past Tense Picture This, British Dyslexia Association, Bracknell 2013
Myriad Slaughter & May Art Fair, London 2013
Transition, Personification University of the Creative Arts Gallery, Chatham, Kent 2012
Multitude The Art Shed, The Art Street, London 2012
Seep The Body Sublime, Parlour Arts, London 2012
Vessels Gallery of Wonder, Newcastle University 2012 solo exhibition
Contraption Lightworks, Grimsby Minster 2011
Seep Modern Panic, Guerrilla Zoo, London 2011
Personification Rarities, Coastal Currents Festival, Hastings 2011
theLongLine Big Draw event, London 2011 ongoing project
theProgressiveImage Original Gallery, London 2011
Absolute Magnitude I Sun touring, UK, international 2011
theViewergallery online, onsite, popup art gallery 2011 ongoing project
Seep Whitechapel Gallery, London 2010
Screenings theViewergallery 2010
Ever Underground City, Divus, London 2009
I wonder if Gaze and Body, Rotoreliefs, London 2009
The Archive Project London 2008
Mirror, Signal The Bigger Picture, Cornerhouse, Manchester 2007
Viewer Hornsey Town Hall, London 2007 solo exhibition
Warp the.gallery@oxo, London 2007
Objectify Small is Beautiful, Royal Academy Schools Gallery, London 2007
Chairism The Opposite of Winter, Candid Arts Trust, London 2007
Contraption Free Range, BA fine art show, Truman Brewery, London 2006
