David Stearn

I understand my practice as a search for ways in which to explore and perform the absurdity of materials and the applied stories or processes that can be associated with them. From taking a singular or multiple selection of materials, usually pre-fabricated, ready to hand and with the smallest amount of required preparation, I find the most extreme ways in which to alter the material or the context in which they are shown.

I am interested in the humour that can be created by staging simple and/ or complicated gestures, typically through an activity or unannounced event, to create works that form a visual accident or experienced calamity. In doing so, the works are open to interpretation from a variety of onlookers or dedicated viewers, particularly when they are performances that resonate after the event or leave a physical trace, however large or small. This practice seeks to alter the surrounding environment and expectations, as well as the physical materials themselves, developing a practice of drawing with a non-static, but, rather overly active sculptural method.

I aim to achieve and continue to explore a sense of motion, be that mechanical or live, that sits alongside my continual interest in controlled destruction and to what extent this theme for making can be pushed as far as possible in order to create and achieve works that sit between purpose and mistake.