Robert Lawton
Statement
My body of work is driven by my enjoyment of anarchical self-expression. Détournement is a historic label, but an apt descriptor for the operation of my artworks, in its properties of negation, reorganisation and redirection. I combine a broad spectrum of media in my practise, including airbrushing, collage, video, sound and various forms of traditional mark-making.
I am interested in the hybridisation of human and animal forms. I utilise “Creaturely transformation” (from Foster’s Positive Barbarism) to use creaturely transformations to amplify elements of the human experience.
My work becomes paradoxical in its fusion and fission of forms. The composition of my work includes a variety of structural and figurative elements. These elements are split into two camps, one abides by the artifice and boundary of the painted space, while the other disregards it entirely, denoting a fundamental fluctuation. I insert a piece of myself (sometimes literally) into a work, in a bid to extend and multiply myself. I view my practise as a biological ritual, acting on a substrate to create a product.