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Artist's Statement Since 1999, I have been making paintings using a combination of bleach and denim. I have called these works "Anti-Paintings", as the painting method involves the removal of color from the canvas, rather than the addition of color to the canvas. I am quite "anti painting" in that the value of painting, (of the "White Male" kind), is quite over determined in Western Culture. The first "Anti Painting" (1999) was called How the West Was Won and Lost. This has become the title for this group of works: the "Anti-Paintings" and accompanying sculptures. Some of these sculptures are made from bronze and nickel and include cotton plants, more buttons, and fast food. The earlier pieces were made using blue denim, and later works using black denim. Blue denim has a wider cultural appeal, and black denim is badder. This "Anti-Painting" Endless Column (Apple Core) is made from a combination of black denim, bleach, biro, and ink. The work is a two dimensional representation of a column constructed from various fast foods that include burgers, ribs, pizza, chicken legs, kebab, more burgers, more pizza, which are topped with a well chewed apple. The column is a totem of contemporary, global food culture. It takes its name from the Endless Column constructed by Brancusi, but shares none of the Modernist purity of those early twentieth century productions. This Endless Column is about excess, a bastard creation of fast food industry, cynical capitalism, and redundant cultural production. Sarah Staton |