Keron Beattie

Biography

My practice is predominantly concerned with materiality and process and the forms which can emerge from the conjunction of materials and processes.  Making by hand in a reflective dialogue with the materials is a key aspect of my practice and this open and informal approach is key to me understanding and pushing the potential of both materials and process.

My practice is almost always small scale, abstract and a response to either the material or the location is which it is to be placed

My work draws on my reaction against digital means of production, over consumption and over complexity.  Found or recycled objects or non traditional art materials are often my starting point.  I then work towards simplifying to a bare minimum.

Currerntly, I am researching breakdown in structures or structure. When breakdown occurs, points of intersection and connection are interrupted or lost but this creates space for new relationships and narratives, and the oportunity for regeneration.

For me the breakdown is important, but only as a precursor to a remaking or emergence of something new rather than a dissolving into nothingness.

I am also researching what is known as autonomous stained glass i.e. that which exists as an art work not a window.

In the book Twentieth Century Stained Glass: A New Definition, Robert Kehlmann points out that making a stained glass panel and designing a window are two different disciplines.  Autonomous glass artists generally fabricate their own work, very often experimenting with materials, technique, and the uses of light.  They freely “address a wide range of ideas and feelings without concern for the form and mood of a building.”

It is this idea of lead and glass working together and giving each other structure and form (or not) which intrigues me.  I am endeavouring to use these materials in new ways and understand what possibilities exist for pushing both technique and media.