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STATEMENT
- Sept 2004
My
early work was an extension of experiments manipulating digital
scans of the body, objects and paint, undertaken for book jacket
and record sleeve designs during my day job as a graphic designer.
My original influences for these works were David Hockney's joiners
and Frances Bacon's paintings. The works were developed entirely
in the computer, and output as large format digital prints.
(Fall1
/ Fall2
/ Bride
/ Paint-heart8
/ Paint-Forest
/ Wired-up
/ Lou
and Dtor / Portable)
I developed the technique throughout 2003, and discovered the
technique of digitally slicing up the final image into a grid
made up of individual print-sized pieces that can be stuck down
to a board. This was originally a process made necessary by financial
restraints (outputting a pack of small prints is far more affordable
than outputting large formats on archive paper).
( Where
to Now? / Going
/ Pete
& Rachel)
It occurred to me, that while the digital camera and Photoshop
are exciting tools, and very versatile at image making, there
was something missing. It was to do with the surface. The surface
of a photograph (or a digital print) is flat and boring, and reflects
the light in an ugly way. There's also a missed opportunity -
a material one, that is embraced by painters and sculptors. So
I began to paint, varnish and stain the photographs or scratch
into the surface, draw on them, write on them, burn them or attach
other materials or objects to them. This has opened up a whole
new world; a physical richness and depth that has influenced the
conceptual and narrative content of my work also.
( Simon
Dixon / Gerard
Morrison / Mind-map
of Alan Thompson / Rachel)
On one hand, it is this combination of technologies and processes
used in creating art that interests me. On the other hand, I am
not particularly drawn to abstract art, or to surface quality
alone. I am far more interested in narratives, characters and
situations. I am interested in portraying uncomfortable, imperfect,
complex or emotionally charged situations and in the inner-workings
of people in these environments, but at the same time trying to
reconcile this with something physically balanced or visually
complete. This complex and difficult to achieve but full of interesting
contradictions.
In my current work, I am doing a series of portraits of people
I know. Although they are portraits in the traditional sense (representations
of people), I am pushing ideas of how to include further levels
of information, stories or clues about my subjects, as well as
furthering my experiments with combining digital and more hands-on
media.
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