Bio

Organising, containing, tidying, carrying.

I’m fascinated by the ways in which containers and vessels are themselves transported and stored, and by the potential for objects generated by human activity to both enable and work to the detriment of movement and 'progress'.

This interest in where and how the distinction between a cultural artefact and a piece of detritus sits extends to chains of decay and reuse: whether that’s thinking about landfill and boxes in the attic, or Philip Guston’s ‘crapola’, or prehistoric midden heaps, compost bins and stock cooked from bones, or how people once used and reused rags.

With castle (dog-box), I wanted to see how a pile of ‘leftover’ objects might provide a way to unpack a situation or event; like an inventory notating a life that has been lived, or grave goods in a tomb acting as provision for a less tangible journey or existence to come.

Otherwise, I’ll be spying on dogs. Scheming on how to suck them into another dimension. All for me.

Photo of a figure carrying a box containing various artworks (squat)
still from video of castle (dog-box) -packed- in use (2021)
Photo of a painting showing a box of rags on a tabletop expand
rag box tabletop- oil on canvas stretched on hollowed-out pine plank scrap with pine pallet block, 10 x 12.5 cm (canvas dimensions) (2021)
Photo of a painting showing a bone laying in a helmet atop a wooden cube expand
bone boiler- oil on canvas stretched over hollowed-out pine plank scrap with pine pallet block, 10 x 10 cm (2021)
Photo of painting showing a wall of tablets with a door in it and heads or masked placed atop expand
notice wall - oil on canvas stretched over hollowed-out pine plank scrap with pine pallet block, 14.5 x 10cm (canvas dimensions) (2021)
Photo of a painting showing a chimney with facial features painted onto it atop a wooden cube expand
roof tarring - oil on canvas stretched over hollowed-out pine plank scrap with pine pallet block, 13.5 x 10cm (2021)
Photo of painting showing a cowboy figure in an eye test format with rats running into their overcoat and knives and pots and pans lying around atop a wooden cube expand
rat overcoat eye test- oil on canvas stretched over hollowed-out pine plank scrap with pine pallet block, 19 x 10 cm (canvas dimensions) (2021)
Photo of a painting of a figure with a bed and scattered objects set into a wooden backing board with a sliding signal board. expand
death of firstborn child / ratatouille- oil on canvas with drypoint and woodblock prints, pine pegs, and a sliding signal board on scrap pine planking, 43.5 x 19.5 cm (2020)
Photo of the reverse of a canvas painting expand
living room (verso)- oil on scrap pine strainer with pine pegs and feet, 60 x 33 x 8 cm (2021)
Photo of a painting showing a table and red room strewn with objects. expand
living room (recto)- oil on scrap pine strainer with pine pegs and feet, 60 x 33 x 8 cm (2021)
S view unpacked- photo of a wooden box containing various artworks expand
castle (dog-box)- unpacked. Wood ash ground into linseed oil on scrap pine box with pine and oak pegs containing various works, pine pallet blocks, mallet, hammer, hand brush, string, and sooty rags on dog towel, c. 107 x 49 x 48 cm (2021)
F view unpacked- photo of a wooden box containing various artworks expand
B view unpacked far- photo of a wooden box containing various artworks expand
Frontal photo of a red papier mâché dog head expand
untitled (calcifer)- distressed watercolour, ink, and primer on papier mâché and cardboard with pine pallet block, 28 x 22 x 28 cm (2021)
Profile photo of a red papier mâché dog head expand
untitled (calcifer)- distressed watercolour, ink, and primer on papier mâché and cardboard with pine pallet block, 28 x 22 x 28 cm (2021)
Photo of a papier mâché helmet with eyes and a big smile painted on it (left side) expand
untitled (smiler helmet)- distressed watercolour, acrylic, and primer on papier mâché and cardboard with cotton painting canvas in garage space, 30 x 20 x 30 cm (2021)
Photo of a papier mâché helmet with eyes and a big smile painted on it expand
untitled (smiler helmet)- distressed watercolour, acrylic, and primer on papier mâché and cardboard with cotton painting canvas in garage space, 30 x 20 x 30 cm (2021)

I keep coming back to old images of polar explorers and travelling pedlars all lumbered up with their equipment. And to imagining big piles of tat and red rubber dog bones.

This box has acted as a vessel for my interests over the past couple of months. I needed a framework open enough to accommodate new works, ideas, and adaptations as they came up, but together enough to examine all these things alongside one another... a modular container to be packed up and unpacked and then packed again in various configurations.

In the future, I can imagine using it as a mobile station for printmaking workshops and storytelling sessions. Or as a pot-stand in the garden.

Edited photo of helmet and artworks in tiled room expand
red barn- visualisation of installation (2021).
Photo of figure carrying a wooden box containing various artworks
still from video of castle (dog-box) in use (2021)
Photo of a figure carrying a box containing various artworks (standing)
still from video of castle (dog-box) in use (2021)
F view- photo of a wooden box containing various artworks expand
R view- photo of a wooden box containing various artworks expand
B view- photo of a wooden box containing various artworks expand
L view- photo of a wooden box containing various artworks expand
Photo collage of figure carrying a wooden box containing multiple artworks
Photo of helmet and various pictures set up in a wood shed with outdoor work light expand
with Duncan Turner (responsible for the wood store), red shed - various works installed in wood store built from pallets with birch, cherry, and ash logs, woodstore space c.170 x 130 x 100 cm (2021)
Photograph of two drypoint prints and multiple woodblock letter prints nailed to pine blocks expand
dissembler and model table on tabletop –drypoints with wood type prints on scrap paper affixed to pine blocks with tacks and nails, 25 x 60 x 20 cm (2021)
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Painting - BA (Hons)

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