CITY & GUILDS OF LONDON ART SCHOOL
DEGREE SHOW 2024
Decorative Surfaces Fellow 2023-24
Supported by The Worshipful Company of Painter-Stainers
In my still life compositions, I tell the stories behind objects. I draw upon the decorative to reflect on the environmental challenges we face today, and to examine what aesthetic, material, economic and emotional value we attribute to objects. I am particularly interested in the concept of waste and how an object’s value can fluctuate when time and labour are invested in reusing, restoring or repurposing a previously discarded item. Through acts of the hand, something that is considered worthless and destined for landfill can instead be imbued with renewed potential. I believe that this is a hopeful endeavour.
One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. This philosophy lies at the heart of my sculptural installations, which evoke those moments when material off-cuts are glimpsed on the margins, leaning to the side of a construction site or on the street pavement, cast-off yet full of possibility. At first glance these panels seem to be made of wood, ply, stone and marble. In reality however, they are discarded boards that I have found and then painted to mimic those materials, following the trompe-l’oeil tradition. By using these illusionistic painting techniques, I hope to engineer uncanny moments of surprise when viewers realise they have been tricked, thus undermining the preconceived notions of value and hierarchy that we assign to materials.
With the generous support of the Worshipful Company of Painter-Stainers and the expert guidance of industry professionals, I learnt numerous trompe-l'oeil techniques, predominantly in marbling and woodgraining, during this fellowship. I used traditional tools and brushes, experimented with different media and materials and found new ways of making, using layering and transparency. I enjoyed finding common ground between the processes used in the decorative painting industry and the fundamental themes that drive my fine art practice – namely: waste, reuse, time, labour, care, craft, and value.
Photos by Paul Williamson and Debbie Loftus
