Daniel Wilkins
My current practice has developed from making paintings that are not concerned so much with the act of painting, as with objects that have been painted. They are works that question the physicality of painting, paintings as objects rather than pictorial planes. Through the use of unconventional shapes my work refers not only to its own space and physicality as object but also the architectural space in which it is situated – in a sense becoming an intervention in the space.
The use of shape and form leave the works in a middle ground between painting and sculpture, combining and referencing both the language and values of both. The machined surface of these monochrome works draws attention to their physical being, their weight and presence as entities. A considered rejection of colour in preference for a brilliant white finish in most of my pieces becomes an expression of their intention – interventions mimicking the white of the gallery wall around them. My use of white prioritises the tonal quality created by light and shadow on the surface of the works, enhancing the materiality of their surfaces.
The mechanized production of these works serves as a counterweight to the traditional values of painting and the painter, and the idea of the artist as maker and craftsman. Removing the artist’s hand from the production of the work in effect frees the work from the scrutiny of its own production, allowing it to become autonomous and operate independently of the concerns of its making, and brings its conceptual concerns into the foreground.
email: daniel-wilkins@hotmail.co.uk
website: daniel-wilkins.co.uk
phone: 07905 088683