Written Statment

My current body of work within fine art explores many branches of research: including Victorian circus, freak shows, prosthetic limbs, posters, still life and dress, as well as the art of taxidermy, voodoo, and British colonisation in Africa. These themes developed from investigating the influences and inspirations of my favourite contemporary artist, Mark Ryden, alongside them already being of visual and artistic interest to me. Their imagery combined helps fuel intricate pieces of cryptically cute subject matter for art that weaves frocks and frills of innocence with dark and disturbing surrealist elements. For example the piece in this portfolio that consists of a kitsch pastel and glittering background with red ribbon in juxtaposition to the two headed freakish subject matter, a technique I am delighted to be experimenting with both visually and conceptually. The ghastly creation of freak taxidermy was the most enjoyable for me within this project, an imaginative spin you could then dress up with soft colours and lace, from the Victorian era and pop surrealism, to contrast it's direness in a sickly sweet fiasco. I was absorbed when playing with aspects of contrasting imagery to fabricate imposingly stylised pieces, as I find great importance in how artists create a soul to their work that is uniquely identifiable to them, something I am striving to achieve. This project was intended as more of a challenge for myself, to steer away from the historical work I usually thrive off and enter a vivid world of new ideas. This was in the hope to develop a broader, more open minded, personal style within my artistic identity. I also implied great focus on simply improving my art skill wise, and as a result this project has focused mainly on my sentiment and devotion for painting - unlike previous bodies of work that involved a lot of experimentation. I reigned in the vast Victorian imagery within the still life art of taxidermy, influenced by artists such as Les Deux Garcons and Kate Clarke, to experiment with relevant and original samples which I am currently developing into a final piece. As seen from my AS exam final piece (as pictured), on Revelation, I love to focus on view point and perspective for my bigger paintings. Therefore my main ambition at this point in time within my project is taking the research and development I have evolved into and push it that step further to create an aesthetically exciting and professional piece that displays depth within a succinct narrative. My art, and its journey through a project, always has to hold an interesting story to form its fundamental foundations; for me it is one of the most crucial elements behind my work.