BIO
My practice is known to expand on my place as a part-time working-class cleaner. Exploring ideas of disgust in the art world is intriguing to me as I believe I have become desensitized to a lot of grim things. I was excited to see other people interact with the disgusting and see how they feel about disgusting encounters. The looks I get at work and people saying to me ‘oo I could not do your job’ put me in a strange position. The idea of disgust interests me. I find it funny. Playful. Disgust is playful. But this is perhaps a view one can only obtain through direct interaction with the visceral. As a cleaner I come face to face with the everyday dirt of society. From shit to sick, emotional disgust has become an inconvenience to getting paid. My work explores this idea of disgust. Encouraging an encounter with the visceral. I begin by observing the work of modern and contemporary arts through the transgressiveness of ‘ready made’, ready made by the human body.
What place does the visceral disgusting have in the gallery?
SKILLS
Sculptural Art
Research
Photography
Critical Thinking
Contemporary Practice
Inspired by Zizek's notion that we quite often find ourselves enjoying the very rituals of prohibition. My work explores the obscene as a counter aesthetic using found and abject materials to curate a visceral encounter between the audience and the piece. By using the objects that have been ostracised from society either physically or culturally. Physically I found the materials in skips and bins, and culturally through the use of condoms, an embarrassingly grotesque material.
Comfort in the disgusting is something I feel close to. Overpowering the strong emotion of disgust through my work as a cleaner offers me a unique position as an artist. I often find myself revelling in amusement as I watch others become reduced by the power of disgust. From sick to shit such things I have simply grown accustomed to. Am I the owner of base material?