.jpg)
Ben Fletcher
If one questions motive, absolute desire stands above all reason. A things reason for being is held in its’ want for being made, whether this warrants its making is another question entirely. Yet when faced with the decision, to do or not to do, when all compelling forces are stripped to the bone, the choice is left to personal desire. At what point do we serve our wants before our needs? Or in this age do we assume want before need - which compels us more? Under the assumption that help is always there, through government aid, family, talent, we are more willing to take the risk of perhaps forgoing meals in order to satisfy a mantle piece.
Things are readily available to us, these objects that must become ours, extensions of our bodies, something else to own as trash-to-be or perhaps treasure in waiting. These value systems placed on objects due to their rarity, material, craft, antiquity or function are a part of what compels the artist in this current climate, persuaded by personal experience as a collector, an assembler and a maker.
The lives of objects, their narrative through history and present placement have been the concern of the artist for much time now. This has shown itself mainly in the form of assemblages, which are dependant on the viscera of said objects. Though lately, this method has decreased in favour for the creation of miniature curiosities. These pieces are rooted still the lives of objects, yet instead of using ‘real’ objects, they are depicted as semiotic archetypes, chairs, shoes, scissors for example. These things are intended for use by man, recognisable to all of us and therefore drawn from memory. These drawings are then set in new objects made by the artist and their narrative is as open as the works before them.
The artist’s obsession with objects governs the work, the pieces exist due to the artists own desire to see them realized. They are made – solid and unjust, with desire above all reason.
