Contstruction and deconstruction.

Material is very important to the work. I started using a plywood with much more layers so that I could work back into it, deconstructing it. Using a blow torch to burn through the layers and a screw driver to etch the wood, removing layers and sections of the wood.

I then print from the burnt wood, as can been seen in the image below, different tones are achieved with just the ash and the wood. An image is created from the destruction of the wood. And again the image continues to change as the ash falls off. 

 

Deconstructing Programming

Printing from a computer keyboard.

The work questions our conditioned thinking-how we are programmed. Our conditioned thinking is almost like the programming of a computer, we are programmed to think a certain way. The work questions this thinking and looks to the potential of breaking through such thinking are barriers.

Here I have used the keypad from a laptop to print from. This came from the deconstruction of a laptop, I want to experiment further with using such objects in the printing process.

Maquettes and shadows

I have been playing with creating these mental spaces and playing with the shadows they create. Maquettes such as the one below are simple experiments playing with line, space and shadow. No matter what the size the maquette is, light can be used to play with the shadow, creating large or small shadows. Space can be continually changed.

Liminal Space

In the last couple months, ideas on liminality have interested me. A liminal space represents an in-between space. It is neither this nor that, it is in constant flux. I use the modern ruin as a liminal space, it is a window into the past yet, we are seeing it in the present moment and it points to questions of the future. The abandoned building site, is a common modern ruin, both construction and deconstruction are represented

The work compares ideas of the liminal space in the physical environment (the ruin) to that of the mental spaces. The liminal state in the mind is one too of uncertainty and change, these states are times of questions. I am interested in this state as one of transformation. The death of old patterns, and the birth of the new. Both growth and decay co-exist.

The co-existence of opposites is central to the work. My etchings below illustrate this co-existence of opposites. Construction and deconstruction are juxtaposed.

Looking into a space.

The physical environment is constantly used to echoe the mental environment. The idea of the glimpse is important to me. Only getting a glimpse into a space, leaving space for uncertainty and questions.

Looking at the space in-between, isolating the 'empty space'.

Prints with Collograph plates in church gallery

Layering Screen Printed tissue paper with prints and fabric

 

Visually transparency is very important. I am working with layering my prints and structures, creating different levels of transparency. This represents being transparent to conditioned thinking and taboos, being open and fearless. I want the work to challenge conditioned thinking and the mental structures we construct. By layering the work, constructing and deconstructing, it takes away the familiarity of the imagery and creates an element of not knowing, creating questions.