Images are thrust upon us everyday, placing certain demands, twisting our psyche and changing us in unconscious ways that, to put it lightly, are often not to positive effect. I am concerned with subverting the usual ways of thinking about identity and everyday life. I currently work with video, doing installations and screenings. Recently I started creating sculptural elements to go along with my videos. I look to the nuances of life for inspiration. Tradition and convention are important, not because I choose to follow them or defy them, but because they exist without a lawful order. Customs are not the demands of an easily defined institution of power. They are formed out of a repetition of actions. For example, why do people put a tree in their house around christmas time? There is no rule in the bible that says this should be done. There is no law from the government that says this should be done. This is a custom that people have created for themselves. It has no practical value but it still brings people joy. Some historians posit that decorating an evergreen tree is a custom derived from the ancient rituals of winter solstice. In this day and age not many people think of gods like Balder and Woden when decorating their trees. It is a rare occasion that you will find me reading a Marxist breakdown of the modern market, but it is often that you will find me looking up forgotten myths and superstitions in folklore text. I value the insignificant and the absurd, these are subjects I feel should be handled with great care and the utmost gravity. That being said, in my working process there must also be room for the impulsive and the unexpected. Movements like Dada and people like Antonin Artaud have informed my practice. The fantastic stories of writers like H. P. Lovecraft and Edgar Allan Poe are also great fuel for my imagination. Outside of these well documented ideas, people and events of history I’d like to know better, what has been forgotten? What can be rediscovered or made anew by a subtle examination of the lingering elements of lost histories?
- Robin Brasington December 1, 2008
|
