LITTER IS EVERYWHERE WE LOOK. I began this project as a response to the amount of rubbish we all see everywhere in the UK countryside. We both see it and don’t see it; it’s both visible and invisible. Themes of visibility and invisibility run throughout my work as an artist, since the silhouette itself frequently indicates a person who is both there and not there. For this reason it struck me as a potent symbol.
Rum Cola on Verge
As human additions to the landscape these items of rubbish are as much a part of us as our hopes and dreams. They are as much part of our human-made world as the buildings we live in and roads we travel on
Fosters
As a keen walker and cyclist I'm often astonished at the amount of rubbish and litter which decorates the roadsides and hedges in South Oxfordshire. I'm sure it's the same all over
Rum Cola
Can rubbish be made into art? The approach I took in this project was to photograph it
McRubbish
Landscape – Silhouette – Rubbish
McFlurry
The titles are taken from the items of rubbish in the pictures: household names all
Thai Sweet Rubbish
Much of this rubbish could easily be recycled, probably most of it. Yet discarded they lie, to be washed into streams and ditches when it rains, and so eventually out to sea
Caipirinha
The landscapes come from a series of oil studies I made, sketches for the Internal Landscape series
Cheesy Bacon
I've included some of the original rubbish photographs to show how it changes when imported into a picture.
Rubbish Exhibition
It's possible the three elements of these pictures (scanned painting, photography and silhouette) make them too complicated.
Lucozade
These are truly rubbish silhouettes
Utterly Rubbish
Photographing rubbish is strange. I find I make a connection with it, the rubbish becomes somehow "mine". Impossible to let it lie there, it needs to come home with me and be recycled
Utterly Butterly
The silhouettes are random people cut at events. It doesn't really matter who they are, they're all of us
Viva Carling
The silhouettes stand for all of us
Rubbish Carling
I'm not sure where this project is going
THESE GALLERIES ARE DISPLAYED for artistic interest. Many of my art works are available for sale. Others have been sold, bartered or given away over the years. If anything catches your eye, or if you’d like to arrange a studio visit (either real work or virtual) do please get in touch. While the most recent galleries represent ongoing work, you can browse collections of art from various projects over many years here.
