Hello Conor and welcome to NotRandomArt. The current issue is revolving around the problem of communication and identity. Is there any particular way you would describe your identity as an artist but also as a human being in dynamically changing, unstable times? In particular, does your cultural substratum/identity form your aesthetics?
Hiya and thank you. I suppose the best thing to accept is that we all have an impact on everything that surrounds us in our personal life or when we make art or however we choose to express ourselves. Each individual’s influence matters, regardless how little or big it is. In my work this sense of individual ownership comes out in a focus on sustainability. I think throwing plastic away, knowing that it’s going directly into the environment, is absolutely tragic and I‘m trying to find a new way to contribute to ceasing this sort of wretched waste polluting the precious waterways or this world. All of my work is made entirely of plastics I’ve collected from everyday life that are hard to recycle. I suppose plastic is my medium.
Would you like to tell us something about your artistic as well as life background? What inspired you to be in this artistic point in your life when you are now?
I went to art college in my hometown of Dublin straight out of school because I knew that the creative environment would be the best place for me to learn and to my elation I found a vast array of skills and techniques I could try my hand at. I eventually settled in the fine print department after a brief foray downstairs in Sculpture and experimented with as many processes as I could. Photography eventually took hold as my desired medium and by the time I was finished I was obsessed with light and craved to know how to fluidly manipulate it and make it beautiful. A few years later and I find myself happily living in Amsterdam still learning different ways to make things and finding real joy in making art by using this desire to make it just for myself as a starting point.
Could you identify a specific artwork that has influenced your artistic practice or has impacted the way you think about your identity as a participant of the visual culture?
I have this Dave LaChapelle book of his work called Heven to Hell. It’s full of edgy and vividly colourful images transcribed from this amazing artist’s imagination which is so far beyond what any normal human could be expected to conjure with simply his or her mind. It’s in the foreword of the book, however, where LaChapelle writes the most inspiring words which still motivate me everyday which is a day to this day: “Always remember as an artist you can create whatever you want at any moment”.
Since you transform your experiences into your artwork, we are curious, what is the role of memory in your artistic productions? We are particularly interested if you try to achieve a faithful translation of your previous experiences or if you rather use memory as starting point to create.