Artists
Aldobranti Fosco Fornio
I work towards an attestation of self, toward an honesty in answering the question “what am I in myself” not through origins but in my interaction with the outside world. A methodology of engagement with Otherness becomes my own personal expression of dissent through respect for the human Other vis-a-vis the external Symbol. This engagement [hopefully] looks to building networks of trust and candour, to be relied on in moments of darkness.
I work towards an attestation of self, toward an honesty in answering the question “what am I in myself” not through origins but in my interaction with the outside world. A methodology of engagement with Otherness becomes my own personal expression of dissent through respect for the human Other vis-a-vis the external Symbol. This engagement [hopefully] looks to building networks of trust and candour, to be relied on in moments of darkness.
Ashokkumar D Mistry
Through my work I explore human agency and in particular I have focused on how individuals rise against institutions and authority. Identifying as dyslexic, dissent seems to have become a trait of everyday life. Dissent runs as a strand through various bodies of work from the perspective of human acts, mechanisms or events that lead to change.
Through my work I explore human agency and in particular I have focused on how individuals rise against institutions and authority. Identifying as dyslexic, dissent seems to have become a trait of everyday life. Dissent runs as a strand through various bodies of work from the perspective of human acts, mechanisms or events that lead to change.
Benjamin Hartley
Originally from Somerset, I now live, study and practice in Bristol. I am in the second year of my Fine Art degree at UWE Spike Island. My practice is predominantly centred around the reconciliation of art in the virtual world, with art in the physical world. My aim is to make art that examines the internet’s effects on aesthetics, the art world, society and culture, with a particular interest in it’s use as a subversive tool of dissent. I have a passion for using scraps, recycling and recontextualising, in recognition of the scarcity of materials in our society.
Originally from Somerset, I now live, study and practice in Bristol. I am in the second year of my Fine Art degree at UWE Spike Island. My practice is predominantly centred around the reconciliation of art in the virtual world, with art in the physical world. My aim is to make art that examines the internet’s effects on aesthetics, the art world, society and culture, with a particular interest in it’s use as a subversive tool of dissent. I have a passion for using scraps, recycling and recontextualising, in recognition of the scarcity of materials in our society.
David Dixon
A consistent theme of over the last few years has been the questioning of binary divisions, leading to a disagreement with single point perspectives. My installations tend to grow organically; usually starting from a set of initial conditions, and will regularly stem from a particular scientific model I am working with at the time. The results and processes involved are aiming to question hierarchies and provoke the eradication of boundaries. By collaborating I try to encourage outside influence, as well as challenge my ideas of control. Discrimination and control regularly sit together, and for this reason I try to embrace the influence of other people, uncertainty and flux.
A consistent theme of over the last few years has been the questioning of binary divisions, leading to a disagreement with single point perspectives. My installations tend to grow organically; usually starting from a set of initial conditions, and will regularly stem from a particular scientific model I am working with at the time. The results and processes involved are aiming to question hierarchies and provoke the eradication of boundaries. By collaborating I try to encourage outside influence, as well as challenge my ideas of control. Discrimination and control regularly sit together, and for this reason I try to embrace the influence of other people, uncertainty and flux.
Denise Kehoe
My practice aims to demystify the artistic process . Hence , it aims to challenge the role of ‘ the artwork ’ and ‘ the artist ’ . Resulting works mimic and incorporate ordinary ephemera in their conception. Thus, the artwork playfully reduces art to the everyday while simultaneously elevating the throwaway as art . The work often adopts a low - tech aesthetic which aims to ironically pander to the - ‘ I could have done that’ – reputation of contemporary art.
My practice aims to demystify the artistic process . Hence , it aims to challenge the role of ‘ the artwork ’ and ‘ the artist ’ . Resulting works mimic and incorporate ordinary ephemera in their conception. Thus, the artwork playfully reduces art to the everyday while simultaneously elevating the throwaway as art . The work often adopts a low - tech aesthetic which aims to ironically pander to the - ‘ I could have done that’ – reputation of contemporary art.
Fran Kelly
My practice develops ideas that involve the movement of objects - building a narrative dialogue that sits between myself and the said object . A reoccurring idea that drives me is the cyclic act of things changing from physical to digital . This movement manifests itself as performative film, painting and sculpture Social media allows us to present an object which is masquerading as a physical thing , but has never actually left the digital realm - playing on the ideas of truthfulness and authority of the internet.
My practice develops ideas that involve the movement of objects - building a narrative dialogue that sits between myself and the said object . A reoccurring idea that drives me is the cyclic act of things changing from physical to digital . This movement manifests itself as performative film, painting and sculpture Social media allows us to present an object which is masquerading as a physical thing , but has never actually left the digital realm - playing on the ideas of truthfulness and authority of the internet.
Gian Cruz
Gian Cruz (b. 1987, Manila, Philippines), an emerging artist whose artistic practice is heavily rooted in photography. His artistic practice is a dynamic integration of his institutional work and his background in art theory and criticism.
Cruz’s work is central to the volatility of the image in contemporary culture and the multiple discourses that come along it. He often extends his photographic work towards a more complex multidisciplinary orientation integrating performance, translation, history, literature, ecology, cinema and several other fields and contexts that find itself fitting to engage with his current preoccupations as an artist.
Gian Cruz (b. 1987, Manila, Philippines), an emerging artist whose artistic practice is heavily rooted in photography. His artistic practice is a dynamic integration of his institutional work and his background in art theory and criticism.
Cruz’s work is central to the volatility of the image in contemporary culture and the multiple discourses that come along it. He often extends his photographic work towards a more complex multidisciplinary orientation integrating performance, translation, history, literature, ecology, cinema and several other fields and contexts that find itself fitting to engage with his current preoccupations as an artist.
James Aldridge
My practice centres on the learning enabled and insight gained, when we are given permission to experience ourselves as an integral part of our environment, through body, emotion and imagination. My approach to dissent is not so much to react against established norms, as to become present, paying attention to my inbuilt capacity to know myself and the systems of which I am a part. As a gay man I value Queer perspectives, which enable ways of seeing and being that transcend barriers, between human/nature, masculine/feminine and image/object.
My practice centres on the learning enabled and insight gained, when we are given permission to experience ourselves as an integral part of our environment, through body, emotion and imagination. My approach to dissent is not so much to react against established norms, as to become present, paying attention to my inbuilt capacity to know myself and the systems of which I am a part. As a gay man I value Queer perspectives, which enable ways of seeing and being that transcend barriers, between human/nature, masculine/feminine and image/object.
James McColl
As a visual artist, my work focuses on turning passive experiences into active ones. I focus on minor life experiences that are largely dismissed or forgotten about, yet say a lot about our collective lives. I use film and performance as a way to engage with larger social issues through simplistic and sometimes abstract actions that aim to transform a passive audience to actively engaged one.
I strive to take my work out of dedicated art spaces as I believe there is disconnect between the art community and the general public. As an artist I have worked to critically discuss the purpose of art and its ability to communicate ideas with people outside of the art world.
As a visual artist, my work focuses on turning passive experiences into active ones. I focus on minor life experiences that are largely dismissed or forgotten about, yet say a lot about our collective lives. I use film and performance as a way to engage with larger social issues through simplistic and sometimes abstract actions that aim to transform a passive audience to actively engaged one.
I strive to take my work out of dedicated art spaces as I believe there is disconnect between the art community and the general public. As an artist I have worked to critically discuss the purpose of art and its ability to communicate ideas with people outside of the art world.
Jonathan Kelham
Jonathan's work predominately explores the construction of a romanticised, melancholic notion of englishness presented in the reoccurring qualities of subjective utopian philosophies. Jonathan completed an mfa & postgraduate teaching qualification at birmingham institute of art & design [uk.]
Solo exhibitions and residencies include: exeter aftermath exeter phoenix [uk], leaders of men town hall tour meantime [uk] and playleadersplay! A city-wide participatory project with generator projects/dundee county council [uk.]
Curatorial projects include: ace funded & british art show 8 associate programme, ugo project space [southampton], presenting large scale, public artworks [s mark gubb | stuart whipps] in a billboard format.
Jonathan is a studio practice lecturer & course leader for the ba in fine art at colchester school of art, uk.
Jonathan's work predominately explores the construction of a romanticised, melancholic notion of englishness presented in the reoccurring qualities of subjective utopian philosophies. Jonathan completed an mfa & postgraduate teaching qualification at birmingham institute of art & design [uk.]
Solo exhibitions and residencies include: exeter aftermath exeter phoenix [uk], leaders of men town hall tour meantime [uk] and playleadersplay! A city-wide participatory project with generator projects/dundee county council [uk.]
Curatorial projects include: ace funded & british art show 8 associate programme, ugo project space [southampton], presenting large scale, public artworks [s mark gubb | stuart whipps] in a billboard format.
Jonathan is a studio practice lecturer & course leader for the ba in fine art at colchester school of art, uk.
Karen Wood
“It’s worth reconsidering the struggle between control (of movement, traffic, etc.) and urban exploration in
contemporary London. We’re constantly moving through space. We’re constantly exploring the city. We’re constantly curtailed by the directions for movement therein.”
Wood's work distils the experience of walking the city into white, black, and blue. It’s a really pristine reduction of the cacophony
of the city into one of its purer forms—not through the eyes or artist’s vision, but through the actual
movement of the body through the built environment.” “Furthermore, ... more people live in cities than the
countryside for the first time in our history. From gentrification to Privately Owned Public Spaces (POPS),
the city is increasingly subject to new political and aesthetic visions. Wood successfully intervenes in
these contemporary debates.”
“It’s worth reconsidering the struggle between control (of movement, traffic, etc.) and urban exploration in
contemporary London. We’re constantly moving through space. We’re constantly exploring the city. We’re constantly curtailed by the directions for movement therein.”
Wood's work distils the experience of walking the city into white, black, and blue. It’s a really pristine reduction of the cacophony
of the city into one of its purer forms—not through the eyes or artist’s vision, but through the actual
movement of the body through the built environment.” “Furthermore, ... more people live in cities than the
countryside for the first time in our history. From gentrification to Privately Owned Public Spaces (POPS),
the city is increasingly subject to new political and aesthetic visions. Wood successfully intervenes in
these contemporary debates.”
Peter Driver
A multi-disciplinary artist using walking, printmaking, drawing, banner-making, performance and other procedures, to initiate dialogue between the viewer and the work. Often incorporating ambivalent texts, natural forms and a dissenting eye, the work relies on people bring their own biography and interpretation to artworks, participating in creating their meaning. These often evoke experiences of nature or landscape and questions about social relations and the common good.
A multi-disciplinary artist using walking, printmaking, drawing, banner-making, performance and other procedures, to initiate dialogue between the viewer and the work. Often incorporating ambivalent texts, natural forms and a dissenting eye, the work relies on people bring their own biography and interpretation to artworks, participating in creating their meaning. These often evoke experiences of nature or landscape and questions about social relations and the common good.
Rosina Godwin
My artwork was created in response to the erosion of women’s rights, as a protest against the pressure from society to conform to a standard role and beauty ideal. The soft, ambiguous sculptures blur boundaries, and fuse several oedipal stages into one piece. It is unclear if they are male or female, benign or malicious.
Prior to completing a Fine Art degree, I studied City and Guilds Embroidery. The work subverts the nurturing associations of textiles to challenge the hierarchy of the arts, by using a medium associated with women’s work, and consequently considered low art.
My artwork was created in response to the erosion of women’s rights, as a protest against the pressure from society to conform to a standard role and beauty ideal. The soft, ambiguous sculptures blur boundaries, and fuse several oedipal stages into one piece. It is unclear if they are male or female, benign or malicious.
Prior to completing a Fine Art degree, I studied City and Guilds Embroidery. The work subverts the nurturing associations of textiles to challenge the hierarchy of the arts, by using a medium associated with women’s work, and consequently considered low art.
Sarah Misselbrook
My practice is off-grid in the Catalan mountains. My work attempts to interrupt behaviours, question gender norms and explore the connectivity between our bodies and the built/natural environment. I play with controlled processes and displays using obsessive acts of repetition followed by subversive acts of destruction and interference. Installation and recorded performances attempt to convey social, educational, religious and submissive acts to highlight the achievable quest for ‘perfection’. Life, death, transience and fragility are explored within materials and processes which attempt to question some of the contemporary issues of sustainability, consumption and climatic change.
My practice is off-grid in the Catalan mountains. My work attempts to interrupt behaviours, question gender norms and explore the connectivity between our bodies and the built/natural environment. I play with controlled processes and displays using obsessive acts of repetition followed by subversive acts of destruction and interference. Installation and recorded performances attempt to convey social, educational, religious and submissive acts to highlight the achievable quest for ‘perfection’. Life, death, transience and fragility are explored within materials and processes which attempt to question some of the contemporary issues of sustainability, consumption and climatic change.
