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I strive to communicate the deep impulses of artistic intent through line, shape, sound and movement. I use found resources to create symbolic works that speak directly to the deeper aspects of the human psyche. In the term “found resources”, I include both found objects and people: through spontaneous words and actions. By “symbolic” I refer to the power of an object to trigger the unconscious mind, sparking a numinous experience: an ‘a-hah!’ moment, or a deep reflective state in which new insights emerge. Symbolic works catapult the viewer into a new level of awareness or understanding.
Commencing a project without preconceptions as to end result is key to my artistic process. I thrive on the element of chance; the challenge of the unknown: creating art from any of the diverse resources available to me, through sculpture, painting, video, sound installation, performance, voice, percussion, piano, dance and/or theatre.
Whether resources be found in a prison; recycling centre; revival meeting; musty storeroom; a cluster of young offenders or psychiatrists: when invited to create art, music or interdisciplinary 'happening' with whatever is available, I do so. Through graphic scoring I visually depict feeling, sound, music and movement: facilitating inter-communication with all artistic disciplines.
A global citizen, with bloodlines from across the planet, which I've traversed several times, I draw from world religions, philosophy and mythology: exploring images resonating across world cultures. My grandfather, composer/author Cyril Scott, advocated “unity in diversity”: a concept core to my philosophy.
Since 1985 I have focused on creating dynamic, interactive Syncretic Art installations with found resources: transforming, investing renewed value and significance into that which others might overlook or discard; and empowering viewers to develop their own interpretations and meanings.
“Syncretic Art”, as coined by Peter Oldham (Political Consul, Canadian Embassy in Tokyo) and myself in 1996, is a reaction to discipline-based isolation of the arts in western cultures.
To paraphrase a colleague, Doug Worts (Educator/Interpretive Planner - Art Gallery of Ontario): Traditionally the arts have been a vehicle through which individuals connect to the deeper cultural reality of society. By living with and reflecting deeply on cultural symbols, individuals developed a personal consciousness of the world in which they lived. As our modern world of specialization evolved over recent centuries the arts have been increasingly relegated to institutions: galleries, museums and theatres – thus removing the arts from any integrated form of symbolic experience in the lives of individuals. Today there is a profound public need and desire for symbolic experience that reconnects individuals at a deep level to nature, other people and the past.
”Syncretism” is the fusion of disparate elements. “Syncretic Art” is the combination of some or any of: visual arts: sculpture, painting, multi-media, sound sculpture, surround-sound audio, video; music: voice, piano and percussion; performance: theatre and movement; mythology; environment and contemporary archaeology.
As such, the term “Syncretic Art”, albeit unfamiliar, most effectively summarizes all elements of my work. |
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