Playgrounds For Microscopic Creatures

Here are a few images of some small assemblage/sculptural works that I made a few months ago. They are made from paper, plaster, wood, ink, wax, pigments and probably other things that I cannot remember.  
I made them as habitats or playgrounds for imaginary microscopic creatures or tiny insects.  I tried to imagine  what it would be like to be so very small, walking on 6 or 8 tiny feet.  My tread so light that it would leave behind no footprints at all.  Not a trace.  I wondered, if I were such a creature, what kind of surfaces would I enjoy walking upon, climbing up, sliding down or hiding in.

These constructions did get unintentionally test driven by the local ants and spiders that reside in my studio.  Unfortunately I was not able to survey the responses of my guests.  But I did feel quietly chuffed that they chose to visit.

The more I venture into the 3 dimensional world, the more I realise  I have a sculptor within me desperately trying to chisel her way out of this painter’s body.  Ideally, I hope that when she fully emerges, she will be able to coexist with the painter.  Perhaps they will get married and have children or maybe have a platonic relationship and live in separate abodes, enjoying eachother’s company on a regular basis.  We shall see...

Bringing my forms out into space, somehow helps me to understand them more.  Pictorial space is deceptive and tricky.  We drag the viewer’s eye in with visual tricks, painterly smoke and mirrors.  There is something more weighty and tangible about sculptural forms.  The physicality of them somehow resonates with our own bodies.  I think  paintings can also achieve this but in different ways.  Here is where scale can be a very powerful tool.  Large scale paintings can have an enormous  physical presence, when they are large enough for the viewer to fit their body into.  To be engulfed by a powerful, large painting is a wonderful thing indeed.  That being said, I have  two large half finished paintings in my studio, languishing and waiting for me to get back to them while I am compulsively stuffing around with bits of cardboard and wood.  Hopefully they (and my dealers) will be patient with me while go off on my various tangents, trying to keep my muse a happy girl.