FOR SALE
''I WISH I WAS A TRANSFORMER''
Main Material;
Coil built Ball Clay, Electric High Fired.
Clay is from Borneo. Ball clays are relatively scarce deposits due to the combination of geological factors needed for their formation and preservation.
Added Materials;
Nylon Rope, Plastic Toys, Child's School bag, Keys,
Safety Pins, Leather, Concrete and Poly-resin.
Size;
5 feet 9 inches High. {1.80m.} including base.
Finish;
24k Pearl Gold and Acrylic Paint.
Edition;
One Off ... No Copies Made.
Original Artists Proof .
Year;
2010-11.
This work is sold as the original Artists Proof.
A Certificate of Proof will be provided and signed by the Artist.
Copyright remains with the Artist.
If you are interested in purchasing this work for your collection
please contact me at ..
My Thoughts Behind The Work ...
''The making of my art is a solitude endeavour between me and my material on one hand and me and the subconscious mind on the other and to bring the balance into a reality. I like to think that the work reflects my values with the interaction of my human emotions but also breaking away from conventions and that for me is very much a self discovery.''
There are many ways if interpreting any work of art ..
it's what gives the viewer a sense of confidence in 'reading' the artist's meanings or intentions in the work and therefore some works are left without the 'story' but in this case I would like give the 'true' meanings to the symbols in my sculpture so as the viewer can have a deeper insight into
my thoughts behind the work.
I find that working with clay is both liberating, as to the freedom the material gives me to experiment and daunting, as to the challenge for realism in the work as to how far can I go to bring a 'life-of-it's-own' to the sculpture and in this sculpture,
''I Wish I Was A Transformer'' I am being symbolic in the emotions of Fear, Pride and Thought. Fear as in 'the loss', Pride as in 'being different' and Thought as in 'the ego'.
This life size figure in clay, 5 feet 9 inches is in one piece and this is the second life-size figure I have made without hands. The other work is titled 'UNCLE' and can also be seen in this blog.
If this sculpture had arms and hands I feel the narrative is not as strong and there would be from the viewer different emotions because in my work I depend on the viewer's emotions to have a connection and a sudden change on seeing the sculpture at
first hand without the 'story'.
Fear: the loss ..
As an artist a fear that lives with me is losing my hands or the use of them for my art .. my life would stop. I cannot be the artist let alone do the things I take for granted and so this sculpture was to be without hands, this was not planned but happened, as is the same for the whole of the work, from the subconscious. It was this 'Fear' that was entering into the work along with the overall stance of the figure that sends out the message to the viewer ...
''see me as I am.''
Pride: being different ..
The narrative in this work speaks for itself as in the stance, the tilt of the head the curve of the body as if levitating and in trying to cut free from his bonds. I only saw this sculpture from the early stages finished as it is, all in 24k gold paint but for the shoes, one black and one white as with the butterfly, symbolic of movement and transformation but here the ropes is the contradiction, they are symbolic if being trapped physically, no longer can have the freedom of movement and the pain mentally, but only in the freedom of the mind to dream and live in the memories and this in itself is also a contradiction. For me as the artist I am trying in a visual context to express a 'body and soul' connection we all have, or it's assumed we have. The body from birth, the soul for eternity that lives on as a separable existence from the body,
the seat of our emotions.
As for the 'dummy' in the mouth, that's his comfort in consoling his feelings but it is also a regression in the physical into a childhood long lost. The schoolbag on his back is my symbol for his 'monkey-on-the-back' ... his past pain, the rope, his past happiness, the toys and he carries the memories around with him and for all to see, it will never leave him because he keeps them alive. The elephants in the centre of his chest shows a harmony and unity of the strength in his heart and that he has a superhero's strength but for me in using the elephants and the schoolbag as the symbols for these emotions of hope and past pain is showing that we as human beings have a positive and a negative side to us, in other words, living in the expectation that the future is going to be better but our past keeps coming into our memories and stops us from living in the present time which comes back to the ego being alive and well in all
situations of our life.
Thought: the ego ..
In this work, the fish, the teddy bear, the schoolbag, the toys and the keys are all symbolic of past memories lived and a future that lives only in the mind are all derived from thought ... the ego that will not let go, and in this I am showing the ego needs all of these things to feel it's own importance to survive and at the same time to keep us in the ego. When you look at the sculpture you could be asking yourself ... 'how come, or, how did the fish and the teddy bear got under his arms?' ...
With this work I am visually showing the ego in action as to how we hold on to everything in our lives even if we had no hands, from the material to the mental thoughts that began in our childhood, 'the teddy-bear' and will swim with us,
'the fish' through our journey in life.
As for the different types and sizes of keys to his back and on the ground ... hidden and out of reach ... well, in this symbolic way I am showing you the viewer that we have the 'keys' to all our own answers and destiny, nobody else can live your life but you ... it's only a matter of looking around with an open heart and mind and finding the right 'key' to open the door to your destiny and walking through, no matter what the circumstances are or what it may bring into your life. We all have 'keys' and it's up to us if we want to open that door for the situations that move us on in life and hence the title of the work,
it's a cry out for change, a transformation of body and soul ...
''I Wish I Was A Transformer''
