b.1977, Durham, England.
Lives and works in Sheffield, UK
My
practice is experimental and multi-disciplinary, often
driven by an interest in contradiction or paradox. I use
photography, sculpture, sound and drawing to construct
scenarios or images that manipulate the 'real' or
recognisable.
The recent project ‘Obituaries' came from an attempt to use
found or random images as a strategy for making. Originally
my concern was with exploring ideas of loss by collecting,
and archiving obituary pages from the newspaper. I was
fascinated with the way that those who were recently
deceased had become transformed into images of paper and
ink, their lives reduced to a few paragraphs. The project
was compulsive but the strategy gradually evolved into
exploring the surface of the images; within the process is
a struggle between contingency and control. Here I use
drawing as a tool for thinking and exploring; I enjoy
solving the problems of surface, picture plane, illusion
and form. The appropriated imagery acts as a boundary
within which to play, it sets the rules.
The ‘Amusements’ extend this fascination for found imagery,
particularly those to which we are exposed everyday. Fliers
and leaflets are a surface of existing forms, which serve
as starting points for semi-abstract ramblings. These are
doodles, not made out of boredom, but in response to the
absurdity of advertisements and the quantity (and quality)
of information we constantly have to deal with. By defacing
this kind of material I’m attempting to express these
frustrations in a humorous way as well as transform it into
something new albeit equally meaningless. This could be
seen as appropriating images of Capitalism as a new space
for reverie or fantasy. As a project in development this is
something I’m keen to explore.
CV
Solo
Exhibitions
2010
If...,
G39, Cardiff
Selected
Group Exhibitions
2011
Jeune
Creation 104,
Paris
The Berlin
Project,
Hasenheide, Berlin
Off
Duty, The
Burlington Fine Arts Club, Manchester
We
Are All In This Together BUREAU,
Manchester
Prism9, CADS Sheffield
Portmanteau
Halle 14, Leipzig,
Citizen tactileBOSCH, Cardiff
2010
Day
Zero Castlefield
Gallery, Manchester
Collaborators
2 ROOM, London
Endgame
Persistence Works,
Sheffield
2009
Curiosity
Vault
Gallery, Lancaster
Otherliness:
Host9 Vane Gallery,
Newcastle.
Pleasurewood
thrills! The Workstation,
Sheffield
2008
Observatory:
Host08 Art Sheffield 08,
Yes/No/Other Options, Millennium Galleries,
Sheffield
Up and
Coming CUC Gallery,
Liverpool
2007
Home Disco:
Host Ongoing group
project
Consortium gallery, Amsterdam,
Colar Te gallery, Centro De Arte Independiente, Santander,
Spain,
Festival International du Premier Film. Annonay,
France.
Deja
Vu Bloc,
Sheffield
Beauty:
Host06 published in The
Sheffield Pavilion launched at the Venice Biennial and
Documenta12
Published
work
2010
Carnival of
Souls
Patricide
magazine
A Booklet For
Friends
Part of the chapbook
set, Transmission Off-Air
Money
Changes Everything
Discourse
commissioned by Bloc Projects to accompany the exhibition
A42D
The Language of
Your Architecture
Accompanying text
for Daniel Hall exhibition.
2009
Contemporary art
reviews.
Metro, 20 published so far.
Transmission:
Host
Sheffield Hallam
University
2007
The Problem of
Beauty
Essay published on
Host Artist’s website
www.hostoffice.org.uk/
Curatorial
Activity
2011
Bloc
Projects. Programmes
exhibitions and events.
Function,
(group show), Nicola Dale, Mike Gent, Alistair Owen and
Paul Lewthwaite.
Dale Holmes, The MONUMENTAL pictures.
McCartney/Velardi.
Billboards
2010
Bloc
Projects. Programmes
exhibitions and events.
Kate
Pickering, Gallery and Billboards
Assembly
10: Correspondence
Frances Hegarty
Hondartza Fraga
Greg Thomas, Billboards
2009
Otherliness:
Host9 Vane Gallery, Newcastle
Education
1996-99 BA hons,
Fine Art. University of Leeds
2006-10 MA, Contemporary Fine Art. Sheffield Hallam
University