My background in the building industry is the greatest influence on me as an artist. Working alongside manual workers provides an endless source of inspiration and ideas.
The new works are based upon the effects of a lifetime of manual work on skin, and use the materials and skills traditionally used in the building industry.
The artwork is wall mountable and, following its inspiration, has a sculptural quality. I am directed by the challenge of creating vibration and movement in a static medium, and the work reflects the concept of manual work as a sub-conscious art-making. Through colour, texture and the use of traditional building materials, I explore some of these scientific and philosophical interpretations in an abstract form.
I believe in vision and process. I render ideas through the tactile embrace of materials such as concrete, bitumen, tarmac, render, plaster, paint, clay and stone. The materials speak for themselves and the works are resolved through a process of addition and subtraction. The result is often a transformed silhouette of a flat image into a three-dimensional statement.
The essence of my work is simplicity simplicity of line and curvilinear form, the simplicity of perceived fluid working motions.
Mike Janes 2003
|
