Looming out from the surrounded chaos

2019, 48.7 x 44.5 x 4.5 cm, Paraffin wax, Microcrystalline wax, Plaster, Acrylic, Adhesive high strength glue, PVA admix adhesive, Wood, High carbon steel, Emulsion paint, Industrial gloss, Resin, Varnish on Sack paper

The surface of this artwork is made of sack paper, which was once a surface for a bag of plaster. In 2017 it was another artwork titled, Plastered Trace. To make the artwork I dunked the empty sack paper bag of plaster into a microcrystalline and paraffin wax mixture. This hardened the sack paper and gave it a sculptural, structural appearance. I then used acrylic paint to start painting in all the transformations that had been made into the surface. In 2020, I decided to rework into the surface. I built a frame out of treated sawn wood and stretched the sculpted sack paper surface over the frame. A big turning point for the making of this artwork was when I was invited to take part in a London Group exhibition called, In Plain Sight at the Thelma Hulbert Gallery. The theme of the exhibition was where each exhibiting artist had to partially hide something within the surface of their artwork. This gave me the idea to select a tool that resonates with me a great deal. It was a tool that was used to intricately cut into the wax, which was then submerged into the mixture leaving an ambiguous aesthetic.