​
​Sublime

​Solo exhibition at MUTE Gallery (2019) Lisbon, Portugal

The work in Sublime explores the relationship we as humans have with our surroundings and our perception toward forces of nature, exposing the fragility of the human condition. In times of culture shift, political confusion and ecological turmoil, the work operates on a level of cathartic release - an attempt to synthesize the paradoxical emotions that arise from constant exposure to news of catastrophe. In this instance, the notion of the Sublime is to function as a reference towards a point of awareness, a space of humility where the ordinary fabric of existence is torn apart, and the dialectic between exhilaration and uncertainty is revealed. Continually shifting in scale and perspective, magazine imagery of disaster is combined with popular holiday destinations, presenting us with a kaleidoscopic field of vision, interrupting the viewer's sense of spatial coherence. With an awareness of the fragility the media (both related to that of mass communication, and to the medium of paper itself) we are reminded of the implications and consequences of desire. The intention of the work is to provide a reflection of a contemporary explosion of a fragmented reality, one that continually drives us forward only to return to the ever present moralistic dilemmas that have shaped us before.

» Transcendental whiter smile  (2018)
​collage, glass wax, 97cm x 75cm

» Disentanglement (2018)
collage, glass wax, 96 x 85 cm

» Caught up in the field  (2018) 
magazine collage, glass wax
97 x 147 x 5 cm

» FLYGA FLADDRA  (2018)
        found box, paint, imitation gold leaf, light, found stand,
        Variable Dimension

» Shop Magazine  (2017)
                        magazine collage, perspex, found box,
​                   113 x 39 x 24.5cm

Utilizing a found box as a plinth, an imagined landscape collage is presented as an object for consumption. The initial glow of the light draws us toward it like a moth to a light source. On further inspection we may feel disappointed, confused and empty. The object shows its reality as a crudely constructed box with inexpensive flickering strip light. The work explores preconceptions, distorted realities and disconnection through the exhibition context. 

» The Centre Cannot Hold (2018)
Floral foam, Light fitting, magazine, plastic cup, plumbing parts
16cm x 11cm x 5cm (series of 6)

Exhibition: Sublime, MUTE Gallery, Lisbon, 2019

           

​​The centre cannot                  hold

Created using highly disposable attractively coloured materials as a response to the often illusionary nature of the tourism industry. Utilizing the circle as a visual tool to direct a focussed viewpoint, the viewers sense of perception is distorted because the subject matter in the photo is just out of site. Landscape photography is taken from magazines depicting holiday destinations, hinting at the desires we have for the 'ideal'.
Photographic reproduction of the individual experience through social media channels such as Instagram cushions us from the realities of the world and the effect that tourism is having on the planet. The nature of floral foam is that is appears solid and spongy, but it actually crumbles when it is touched.

A 2016 analysis by research company Factiva showed that lines from the poem ("The Second Coming", W.B. Yeats) were quoted more often in the first seven months of 2016 than in any of the preceding 30 years.[9][10] In the context of increased terrorist violence (particularly in France), and political turmoil in the Western world after the Brexit referendum in the United Kingdom and the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States of America shortly thereafter, commentators repeatedly invoked its lines: "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."[11][10] - Wikipedia, The Second Coming (poem)

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