I studied fine art at Ravensbourne and Goldsmith’s colleges of art in London majoring in sculpture and have been teaching high school art for nearly 30 years.
After a working lifetime of questioning myself about what I am really passionate about I realise that I care most about the way we are abusing the planet. Consequently my work has been increasingly concerned with environmental matters during the last few years so I was gratified that great minds think alike and the pieces that I had prepared for submission to NE5 fitted the theme that was chosen!
The piece of work “Freshly Wrapped” moves beyond the painting to question the ever domineering presence of marketing and dubious advertising. That is to say the practice of highlighting only that which sounds good to the consumer while quietly neglecting to admit to the parts which are increasing our carbon footprint.
Being concerned about the “mad hatters tea party” of consumerism and the potentially unhealthy cocktail of additives in most products; I read contents labels with interest and it always amazes me how manufacturers get away with so much - what can be best termed - misinformation. [How can a cleaning product, no matter how “natural” it’s contents, be benefiting the planet when it is packaged in a non-reusable plastic container?]
Green is the biggest buzzword and the differentiation between the colour and the concept seems to have been completely lost. Thus the concept of taking one of my own landscape paintings which is predominantly green in colour and wrapping it in an unnecessary layer of shrink wrap covered in advertising logo’ effectively obscuring any objective assessment of the contents came about. Admittedly, in creating the work the same conflict occurs that convening a global conference on climate control creates - the intended solution exacerbates the problem - but thankfully on a much smaller scale.
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