Statement

Artist Statement
Drawing has become a key aspect in my work as a way of suggesting and subverting ‘truth’. My work explores what lies beneath the surface of the common object in a historical, artistic or political sense; although the conclusion of these revelations is in the mind of the viewer. The value of an image or an object once it has become mass produced and widely available, compared to the status of the original, is interesting to me and drives a desire to make those things individual again.
I make my work through ‘drawing’ in the widest sense of the word, such as cutting, colouring and intricate polysymetrical patterns. The effect of such complex patterns is to confuse and disorientate the viewer as to where the pattern begins and ends, a metaphor for the original and the over-consumed in society. Carving into fruits with a scalpel, depicting patterns taken from their country of origin highlights the culture they hail from whilst simultaneously creating a ‘living’ drawing that will alter and deteriorate over time.
I make my work from common materials, such as newspaper, discarded paper bags and fruit stickers, although the tension between surface and three-dimensionality is always an important factor in determining how they will be ‘altered’. By using familiar objects that are handled on a day-to-day basis, the extraordinary can be revealed in what we have all around us.

www.charlottepatton.co.uk

http://showtime.arts.ac.uk/charlottepatton