Chairs (2017-2019)
These portraits of individual chairs are a celebration of both the original design of the chair, and the materials from which it was manufactured. The craftsmanship and sheer design brilliance behind so many of these chairs have had a massive impact on my visual vocabulary. I am also fascinated by the original source materials - primarily beech and elm trees - which were transformed into such beautiful chairs, and often consider the early process of manufacturing them by hand, in the woods, beetles, pole lathes and adze at work. I chose the medium of linocut as a nod towards the process of wood-turning the chair legs and spindles, a repetitive and skilful action which was undertaken deep in the woodlands. The most recent prints have been carved and then taken through a press, a circular movement which echoes the turn of the pole lathe; the mechanic repetition of printing seems an apt means to render these portraits. By observing the very essence of each chair in a portrait, I allude to its history, past owners, and the materials from which it is made, feeling the reach of the past with each image.
