'What is the Truth but a Lie Agreed Upon'- 'Hatch', drive- through show, Langport, Somerset. 2020. Photo: Jon Barrett
(Links to individual works bottom of page)
Detail from a previous piece of work called 'How we Won the War'- from the show 'Offer Must End Soon'. A real bullet attached to a toy truck.
Picasso famously said ‘art is the lie that shows a truth’. It’s a phrase I use a lot as short hand to talk about what I do. I always feel that a representational painting or a photograph illustrates this simply. It isn’t the real thing it’s a representation of the real thing, an illusion, artificial or a reflection of the real world. This reflection sometimes gives us a fresh perspective that allows us to see things we hadn’t realised before or in other words- the truth! Of course paintings and photographs are still 'real things' in their own right but in this scenario they allude to there being a ‘real world’ and an ‘unreal world’. I love to play with the boundary between the two.
Detail from a previous piece of work called 'Executive Toy' from the show 'Offer Must End Soon'. Real money and a real mouse trap attached to a toy 'Group 4' security van.
I often use toys as a metaphorical vehicle to do this, especially old toy cars. Like the representational painting or photograph they have a similar dual existence as both 'object' and 'pretend object'. The toy car may represent quite a specific real car but in its play-worn state, covered in scratches or scars, it has a history of its own; a history that often triggers a lot of nostalgia for some. I sometimes try to accentuate this 'realness' of a toy by joining them to a other objects or putting them in another context.
Bearing in mind I’m preoccupied with the boundary where unreal becomes real; imagine the short circuit in my brain when the world became totally surreal during the Covid pandemic. On top of that the country was run by a man famous for not telling the truth.
I made these 'Boris projects' to try and get my head around the idea of a world of 'post truth politics' and a country led by a populist politician that I didn’t feel was genuine.
Bearing in mind I’m preoccupied with the boundary where unreal becomes real; imagine the short circuit in my brain when the world became totally surreal during the Covid pandemic. On top of that the country was run by a man famous for not telling the truth.
I made these 'Boris projects' to try and get my head around the idea of a world of 'post truth politics' and a country led by a populist politician that I didn’t feel was genuine.
Links to individual projects below
