Below the Surface

Concise artist’s statement

Work on my most recent solo exhibition Below the Surface investigates my current interest in childhood expectation, personal history and lineage, memory, personal memory, childhood memory and the notion of cellular memory.

Cellular memory or otherwise known as body memory is a hypothesis that the body itself is capable of storing memories, as opposed to only the brain. This is used to explain having memories for events where the brain was not in a position to store memories and is sometimes a catalyst for repressed memory recovery. These memories are often characterised with phantom pain in a part or parts of the body – the body appearing to remember the past trauma. The idea of body memory is a belief frequently associated with the idea of repressed memories, in which memories of incest or sexual abuse can be retained and recovered through physical sensations.

However, the idea is pseudoscientific as there are no hypothesised means by which tissues other than the brain are capable of storing memories. The Cellular Memory Phenomenon is a term coined by the medical profession for the personality changes that some people undergo after organ transplants. 

The title for this body of work Below the Surface hence refers to memory, not necessarily only experienced, but also possibly stored and remembered “below the surface”; on a cellular level in our bodies.

My exhibition Below the Surface features unique mixed media paintings, stone lithography, photography, laser engraving, light works and an exploration of a brand new medium that may be described as “reverse Plexiglass printing”.

Multimedia Paintings

Secrets & Lies I - Cloudburst

Watercolour, ink, metal leaf and needle point on Lana 350gsm watercolour paper
75 x 55cm
2014
Framed in a deep white box frame

Secrets & Lies II - Hopscotch

Watercolour, ink, metal leaf and needle point on Lana 350gsm watercolour paper
75 x 55cm
2014
Framed in a deep white box frame

Secrets & Lies III - Forever

Watercolour, ink, metal leaf and needle point on Lana 350gsm watercolour paper
75 x 55cm
2014
Framed in a deep white box frame

Graphic Works

Dance Macabre - Cellular Memory I

Two colour stone lithograph on 300gsm
BKF Rives etching paper
Print size: 39,5 x 74,5cm
Paper size: 50 x 85cm
France, 2014
Framed in a deep white box frame

Life Below The Surface - Cellular Memory II

Two colour stone lithograph on 300gsm
BKF Rives etching paper
Print size: 74,5 x 39,5cm
Paper size: 85 x 50cm
France, 2014
Framed in a deep white box frame

The Silent Evolution - Cellular Memory III

Two colour stone lithograph on 300gsm
BKF Rives etching paper
Print size: 39,5 x 74,5cm
Paper size: 50 x 85cm
France, 2014
Framed in a deep white box frame

The Problem of Lineage I - V

[Precious] Moment – The Problem Of Lineage I
[Advice] From The Caterpillar – The Problem Of Lineage II
[Monkey] Business – The Problem Of Lineage III
[Innocent] Nightmare – The Problem Of Lineage IV
[Little] Thief – The Problem Of Lineage V

Two colour stone lithograph on 300gsm BKF Rives etching paper
52 x 36cm
Ed. 1/19
France, 2014

Framed in a deep white box frame

Multimedia Text Works

You cannot contain me – I am free like the rain

Perspex, LED strip lights, laser cut text, electrical cord and transformer
framed in a deep white box frame
19 x 134cm
Unique work

I am lost in your hold over me

Perspex, LED strip lights, laser cut text, electrical cord and transformer
framed in a deep black box frame
19 x 104cm
Unique work

Conceal

Perspex, LED strip lights, laser cut text, electrical cord and transformer
framed in a deep white box frame
24 x 84cm
Unique work

Reveal

Perspex, LED strip lights, laser cut text, electrical cord and transformer
framed in a deep white box frame
24 x 72cm
Unique work

No talk of childhood

Perspex, LED strip lights, laser cut text, electrical cord and transformer
framed in a deep white box frame
64 x 49cm
Unique work

The Guardian series - Small multi-media photographic works

Guardian I - Sugar, Cinnamon and Spice

Photograph and engraved transparent Perspex framed in a small box frame
9 x 18cm
Unique work

Guardian II - Only your unknown tongue…

Photograph and engraved transparent Perspex framed in a small box frame
9 x 18cm
Unique work

Guardian III - Often I wish...

Photograph and engraved transparent Perspex framed in a small box frame
13cm diameter
Unique work

Guardian IV - I am the angry man...

Photograph and engraved transparent Perspex framed in a small box frame
13cm diameter
Unique work

Guardian V - These days…

Photograph and engraved transparent Perspex framed in a small box frame
12 x 12cm
Unique work

Guardian VI - You are the firebird…

Photograph and engraved transparent Perspex framed in a small box frame
12 x 12cm
Unique work

Guardian VII - I must interpret myself...

Photograph and engraved transparent Perspex framed in a small box frame
16 x 12cm
Unique work

Guardian VIII - I am the plagiarist...

Photograph and engraved transparent Perspex framed in a small box frame
16 x 12cm
Unique work

Guardian IX - You are the footprint…

Photograph and engraved transparent Perspex framed in a small box frame
18 x 18cm
Unique work

Guardian X - Then you chose to flee…

Photograph and engraved transparent Perspex framed in a small box frame
18 x 18cm
Unique work

Guardian XI - Your beautiful freedom…

Photograph and engraved transparent Perspex framed in a small box frame
15 x 15cm
Unique work

Guardian XII - Will these trees bloom again…

Photograph and engraved transparent Perspex framed in a small box frame
15 x 15cm
Unique work