Tintotem Series 1 2020-21
In this first series of twelve Tintotems a simple vertical form typical of many totems, and monuments is utilised to echo and synthesis its use in both indigenous cultures and in classically informed Public Monuments. Adopting bricolage techniques of assembly, and using cheap everyday materials liberates the necessity, prerogative and exclusivity of using more expensive materials often associated with Public commemoration in Sculpture.
The blue and red harlequin like coloured banding is to group the sculpture together as a carnivalesque troupe or Parade of Tintotems where life is celebrated with joy, playfulness, humour, irony and parody. Strategies of making include for example: simulating a textured surface to disturb the machine precision of the stacked tins and to reinforce the value of the handmade; or utilising the horizontal ribbed grooves characteristic of most mass produced cans to become analogous to the fluting found in Greek columns. In this series, a variety of commonly known representations of ideas and beliefs from yoga spirituality; feminist activism; totalitarian power; or devotion to a Super hero for example are reinterpreted, often colliding and conflated with other viewpoints and offered as contemporary totems.
