I have always had a strong interest in illustration, film and animation, with my work being influenced by artists such as Jan Svankmajer and Jiri Barta, Maya Deren and Charles Burns. I have been working as a self-taught artist and designer for an independent record label for several years and some of the work shown here is the result of collaborating with bands on projects, creating the right tone and style of presentation for their music. This has allowed me to explore various methods and techniques, including screen printing, wood cut, film making and video projection.
An exhibition which has inspired and continues to influence my work was the Mike Kelley curated “The Uncanny” (Tate Liverpool, 2004), which included found objects, comic book and trading card collections, medical displays and ventriloquist's dummies, alongside works by Duchamp, Hans Bellmer and Paul McCarthy. This influence of “The Uncanny” can probably be see most explicitly in “The Bather” video installation and the “And Straight On Till Morning” CD cover, with the uses of found illustrations, unearthly themes and inferred narratives. The “Saint Luminous Bride” video was an attempt to recreate a musical performance with puppets and found objects, yet still capture the spontaneity of a band playing live. Several of the works began as paper cuts, which are then used as the basis for digital collages or screen prints.
I believe that the three year duration of this course would allow me to experiment and explore new techniques under the guidance of experienced tutors, giving me the opportunity to combine all of the elements of my art and design projects, improving, evolving and expanding the range of my work.
