Skin, 2011​

latex , light box, film projection, graphite, tracing paper, photographic images

This project has four elements: latex objects / skins, photographs, drawings and film. They each relate to walking around my environment and collecting objects and images from my world.  Over the course of 2011,  I have been collecting objects and images on my walks around my neighbourhood in Kensington and also on other walks on the beach at Rye, around Mt Beauty and the McClelland Sculpture Park in Langwarren.
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The objects are natural e.g. seed pods, leaves, bark or shells, or they are found man-made objects such as bottle tops, cans, packages, spoons and broken glass.   When I collect I try not make a judgement about the value of the item.  Rather, I consider the form, presence and materiality. Collecting whilst walking speaks of my identification with the artist as flâneur as described by Baudelaire (1863) in that I see beauty in the everyday object that may go unnoticed by others and I express that beauty through my work as a sculptor.
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The found items are translated  into one material: latex that  appears like a skin and embodies many of the qualities and marks of the original form.  Latex plays beautifully with light and at times retains remnants of the original object such as dirt, grease, bark, skin and text.  This work considers how these objects can transform when they are unified by place, colour and material.  The exploration of interaction and connection created between the natural and manufactured objects is the critical intention of this work.  Transforming them and unifying them through materiality and presentation equalizes their values and challenges the viewer’s preconceived notions of the relative importance and merit of the natural versus man-made.  All of these objects represent the discarded in society, and may be considered as archeological relics found in the contemporary urban and rural environments.

The film was recorded when I was walking through Andrew Rogers’ Labyrinth at McClelland Sculpture Park in Langwarren, Victoria. Walking this labyrinth reflects my intention with this work and my sculptural philosophy.

The labyrinth is a reflection of our existence in time and space.  We are here now and life is current…It is an exploration of meanings and powers from the past and their meaning for the future.  With this creation there is blurring of the physical and conceptual boundaries between structure and environment.
                                                                                                             Andrew Rogers, July 2010​