About Artworks: Syzygy (2015-6)

The powerful and renown-emperors, athletes, politicians, religious figures-have always been of influenced me and been a catalyst to making work. What interests me, for example in a bust of a Roman emperor or a grandioseFascist sports stadium is that these monuments were made with to lasteternally, yet paradoxically demonstrate an inevitable fall from the pinnaclesof the ideal.  My interest lies in this inevitable image disintegration,such as youtubevideos of Zinedine Zidane headbutting a football opponent,or Djokovic kissing a trophy after a tennis match- with their carefullycultivated images, gestures and heroicmovements- not unlike their ancientcounterparts. They teeter on the abyss ofbeing ripped apart through the publiceye, (media and social media). The image in glory and the image in ruins areequally attractive to me.

Personally, I feel the popularity of sports in contemporary culture cannotbe underestimated or ignored, it is the thing that animates huge groups ofpeople, the spark thatcauses them to act irrationally, hence whether considered“low brow” or “highbrow” it is unmistakably an important topic to address.  The images from theseries Syzygy, A Momentary Illness of the Sun [2] started off lookingat the entwining of Sports and the Masculine Image, and the subsequent deterioration and transformation that image. It has recently spread furtherinto deconstructing religious images.

[1] Note- ‘Image’ usedhere to denote any visual form such as a jpeg, televised footage, painting,statue, architectural monument.

[2] Note- ‘Syzygy’ in the title is in referenceto the traditional European astronomical term for an eclipse, which wastraditionally regarded as an ominous “sickness” to the body of the earth and the body of the Sun.   This syzygy ‚blip’ or moment of ‚sickness’relates perfectly to the subversion of the image of man being powerful,in-control and idolised. And of course, the sun was seen as the traditionalsymbol of the Masculine energies from ancient Greek/Roman myth, traditionalEuropean astrology/astronomy hence the „Sickness of the Sun”, which in thiscase references the symbolic eclipsing of the masculine image.



About Artworks: Kiss (2015)

More about the animated gifs made for the digital space cointemporary.com



About: Image Disintegration

 People often ask me why I only appropriate particular images, for example footballers. There is such a long history to these types of martial -royal images, whether they are roman emperors, athletes, soldiers, politicians or religious figures­ the gestures and graces continue to be the same across the ages. These images were often made to preserve eternally, but in them I see a paradoxical and inevitable fall from the pinnacles of the ideal. I focus on that point of inherent and inevitable deconstruction.  My interest lies in this fragile hinge of image disintegration, starting with ancient monuments and statues such as the Caracalla emperor head, through to the present-day imagery of politicians and footballers, with their carefully cultivated images, gestures and heroic movements- not unlike their ancient counterparts. They teeter on the abyss of being ripped apart through the public eye.(media and social media).

       Read more in 'Man and his Image'


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