Exciting times ahead as we prepare for the opening of our
Somerset Art Weeks 2015 exhibition at The Old Brick Workshop. I am exhibiting
with twelve other artists but thought I'd give you a sneak preview of what my
new work in this exhibition is about...
The exhibition opens 11am this Saturday 3rd October. Hope
to see you there!
“Extremely weak. Fault of Pot. Seed”
On April 28th, 1992, Christopher Johnson McCandless
hitched to the stampede trail in Alaska. There he headed down the snow covered
trail to begin an odyssey with only 10 pounds of rice, a .22 calibre rifle,
several boxes of rifle rounds, a camera and a small selection of reading
material –including a field guide to the regions edible plants, the ‘Tana’ina
Plantlore’. After surviving for more than 100 days McCandless perished sometime
around the week August 18th from what was later believed to be starvation by
poisoning. It is still uncertain whether the exact cause of his death was due
to mistaken identification; the edible Hedsarum Alpinum (Eskimo potato) for the
poisonous Hedysarum Mackenzi (wild sweet pea) or the mould which grew on these
seeds during their storage inside a plastic bag. Despite the tragic
circumstances of his death, McCandless’s story about how finding oneself
sometimes conflicts with being an active member in society (actions which were
deemed controversial to some) and inspiring testament to the search for
enlightenment by immersing oneself into the natural world devoid of material
possessions became the bestselling book, ‘Into the Wild’ by the writer and
mountaineer Jon Krakauer.
Nineteen years later, I discover the book for the first
time in the local bookshop where I work as a Bookseller in Taunton. Inspired by
everyday objects, my work in recent years has been dominated by the tools found
in my Grandfather’s tool shed. Taking that same fascination of objects and the
possible stories they hold, I have created drawings of the objects that
McCandless took with him on his journey. I speculate that I am curious too, not
in the materialism he chose to abandon but in the significance and essentiality
of the few items he chose to keep with him. Ultimately I believe it is about
how books can be as informative, influential, misguiding or deceptive as the
illusionary, interpretive qualities of art itself.
Never trust an Artist. Never trust a Bookseller!
You can see my
work as part of the exhibition at The Old Brick Workshop, Wellington is open
daily 11-6 from this Saturday October 3rd until Sunday October 18th
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