Christopher James Poole is a London based artist. Using childhood memories, he makes sculptural works that he sees as an extension of the drawings and paintings he has previously made. His influences come from his passion for horror genre, 70’s action figure toys and superhero comic books. He explores these subjects on a personal level to make objects which are simultaneously unsettling and nostalgic. ‘The uncanny is that class of the frightening which leads back to what is known of old and long familiar’[1]. These objects are neither functional nor decorative. Yet, the clay reminds us of early experiences of art classes and the bold colouration, again, is suggestive of a world of child’s play. These initial encounters are disrupted by a missing limb or head or by the presence of a hinted at figure which is limbless or lumpen or by an empty vessel. The viewer’s initial delight gives way to a mixture of revulsion and excitement at the spectacle of something understood, on one level, yet, on another level; concealed.

Poole’s work speaks of the stuff of nightmares, of a world of night terrors and of childhood imagination. It is a realisation of the uncanny which disrupts the pleasingly cack-handed surface.

[1] Sigmund Freud, The Uncanny, Penguin Books, 2003, originally published, 1919