Anklebiter

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My work is predominantly site specific. The obstacles that arise from working with a site awaken the same problem solving synapses that printmaking does. But creating temporary installation work can be wasteful and I’m constantly thinking of how to reuse elements that are easily stored in between exhibitions. I’ve been developing a piece, called Anklebiter, that is designed for minimal waste with maximum adaptability.

 

Throughout quarantine I am drawing and printing nests of intertwined snakes based on childhood nightmares, and ruminating on how lost I get in the worlds I create. Wooden Brio train track sets used to fascinate me as a child and I spent hours rearranging repeating pieces into new routes. These two forms met at a crossroad and became a set of modular wooden segments printed with patterned scales and a collection of snakes heads. They snap together to create configurations of looping danger on the floor that the viewer can gingerly navigate, or view from afar.

 

My definition of printmaking is broad. The multiple can be created in a myriad of ways, incorporating industrial processes as well as traditional press based prints (which were once the cutting edge of industry - the workhorses of their day). My public work is designed and planned on the computer, but it retains elements of the handmade. I come from a background of fabrication so there is a constant skipping between the machine made and hand finished in my work. During the lock down I worked from my home studio and focused on prints output to cut vinyl films, hand screen printed and CNC routed on a an XCarve.

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Click to see the second edition of this work for Nest of Vipers at Method Gallery in 2021

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