Badgers (The Manatou)
Cheetahs (Fall Of The House Of Usher)
Deer (Jouissance)
Elephants (Now Try These!)
Foxes (The Devil Rides Out)
Giraffes (Man Alone With Himself)
Horses (The Innocents)
Kittens (God's Eye)
Koalas (The Dead Zone)
Orangutan (The Invisible Man)
Prairydogs (Manderley)
Sheep (Narcissus)
Storks (Rosemary's Baby)
Tiger (Portal)
Whales (Carnival Of Souls)
Wild Boar (Belle et la Bete)
Baby Animals 2008 - 9
Mixed Media on Paper
Exhibited at g39, Cardiff and
Vault Gallery, Lancaster
The
series 'Baby
Animals' came from an attempt to produce art in a more
experimental and intuitive way. The way I’d worked as a
child before becoming an ‘artist’. The colouring-in book
seemed like a good place to start, the initial decision of
what to draw is removed, the activity of ‘filling in’ then
follows. I had previously experimented with automatic
drawing with disappointing results, this time I wanted to
focus on and enjoy the act of making. I soon found myself
planning and manipulating the imagery in order to satisfy
aesthetic desires. I started to take away elements and
intervene with imagery of my own choice. I let myself be
guided by form rather than the subconscious. Limits were
set meaning I could only work from the 24 pages in the book
with whatever materials were in my pencil case. Images of
animals in their natural environments are intertwined with
haunted houses or over-bred dogs which suggest a
domesticity gone wrong, a conflict between the natural
world and the world of reason. Bizarre narratives began to
unfold which are elaborated by titles from ghost and horror
stories. The resulting work is born out of the struggle
between contingency and control as well as a
reinterpretation of the familiar and personal, which has,
at times an unhomely effect.