Max Growth Bling
Nike Air Max 90 trainer, plywood, steel, Mapei coloured grout, crystacal lamina, fibreglass, fimo, jewellery, imitation plants, fruit packaging net
54cm x 36cm x 24cm
2020
This sculpture started with using up things I already owned, such as old shoes, jewellery and materials that have been in the studio for some time. The trainer, a Nike Air Max 90, has the significance that during my teenage years, the brand and style (also Air Max 1 and Air Max 95) were what everyone wore to raves when happy hardcore and jungle music merged to develop the drum 'n' bass genre. The rave years in London were formative in my ideas around urban wildness and excess, control vs chaos, digital slickness combined with organic growth and mutation. The coloured grout, fibreglass, plywood and steel armature are materials associated with the building trade, whilst the jewellery and imitation plants are ornamental and decorative. Trainers are always practical, but of course the choice of style often has powerful semiotic significance i.e. fashion tribe.
Max Medication
Nike Air Max 1 trainer, plywood, steel, grout, crystacal lamina, fibreglass, blue denim, pint glass, penis glass, chandelier balls
85cm x 47cm x 47cm
2021
‘Max Medication’ follows the first trainer sculpture, ‘Max Growth Bling’ and is in the lineage of the ‘Great Britizens’ series. During lockdown and becoming a parent during the pandemic, thoughts naturally turned to nostalgia for the parties and social freedom of my salad days. Medication was the name of an after-after-hours gay club in the arches of London Bridge in the mid-2000s, where clubbers continued the party after somewhere such as Trade or DTPM. People would be wrecked and off their faces, creating an atmosphere of total hedonism and oblivion. It was in the dark cave of Medication that I encountered the man who inspired this sculpture. The first thing I noticed as he approached was a deep circular scar around his left eye, which might have been caused by being ‘glassed’, a terrifying fight in his past. Secondly, he was pallid and sweaty, which would have been unremarkable, but there seemed to be a lot of skin exposed because he was wearing very low-slung dungarees with no other clothing beneath. Thirdly, the sides of the dungarees were so far down and loose, his genitalia were hanging out and bobbing as he walked towards to me. I was glued to the spot trying to comprehend this strange sight, then he whimpered, ‘Will you be my friend?’. I decided it was time to leave, and glad to blink my eyes outside in the bright sunshine of a crisp Sunday afternoon.
Pramface
steel, crystacal lamina, fibreglass, grout, epoxy
105 x 80 x 83cm
2008
Miss SkegVegas
steel, crystacal lamina, grout, fibreglass, fabric, silver leaf, epoxy
110 x 80 x 90cm
2009
Mr Whippy 200 Yards from the School Gates
steel, crystacal lamina, fibreglass, grout, satchel, paint, epoxy
240 x 120 x 70cm
2009
Crone of the Night
steel, crystacal lamina, grout, fibreglass, glass and acrylic crystals, wire, pigment, lacquer
220 x 60 x 50cm
2009
Siren Stephen and His Mirror
steel, crystacal lamina, grout, fibreglass, anodised aluminium, hair
156 x 137 x 60cm
2008
Callaloo Stu
steel, crystacal lamina, fibreglass, grout, callaloo cans, pigment, lacquer
130 x 95 x 40cm
2009
Busker
steel, plaster, wood, fabric, paint, coins
110 x 90 x 60cm
2008