'TROJAN HORSE'

Here is the amazing work of Susan Collis, one of the most inspiring artists I came across during my Ba at Manchester Metropolitan University. I thought I would include her in my writings because I strongly feel that the concepts and ideas behind my own paintings, and three-dimensional drawings, relate, in some ways, to what Collis tries to communicate with her installations.

The beautification of the banal, the re-staging of the elements, the victory of the over-looked...that is what I am talking about!

"Susan Collis's work might at first glance appear to be out of place in an exhibition, and you have to look closely to discover it. Mundane things, seemingly left behind from a previous exhibition, are actually meticulously worked by hand."

Susan Collis, 'Since I Fell For You', 
2010, 100% Cotton, 2002, 
Boiler suit, embroidery thread, 
63 x 183/4in.

'Since I Fell For You' (detail)

Susan Collis, 'Enter, Us', 2009
Screw made of  18 carat white gold,
White sapphire and turquoise

Susan Collis, 'Trojan horse', 2007, 

wooden table, diamond, fresh water pearl, oyster pearl, 

mother of pearl, conch shell, Brazilian opal, white opal, 

white howlite, magnecite, gold mother of pearl, 

cultured pearl, agate, orange calcite 

'Trojan horse' (detail)

PINS ON TREES

'AWAKEN'

Dress-making pins on a log 104cm high

This piece, made appositely for Bucheli Gallery, revolves around the idea of artificial growth. Although the aim of the piece is to describe the physical world and pay homage to Nature, it also exploits the human ambition of imitating and, often, recreating Nature itself.

My attempt here is to bring together the organic and the artificial by integrating them and, at the same time, challenge the viewer's perception of what constitutes a natural phenomena. 

The log has been enlivened by artificiality; I achieved this by presenting the viewer with a common pattern to be found in Nature, employing, instead, an ordinary object, for example a dress-making pin, and placing it within a different context.


With 'Awaken' I wanted to try to incorporate all the concepts that I learnt by doing on-site installations during my MA year at Wimbledon College of Art (University of the Arts London). I wanted to work in a more intimate, practical and accessible way; I thought I would achieve this by creating a movable sculptural object.


This installation with dress-making pins (below) was called 'The Present' and would occupy the outdoor and indoor spaces of my MA studio in Wimbledon:

Note how a spider came along and made my pins his home!