The Questionable Nature of Play?

Self-Portrait with Giant Jenga, 2024. Balanced found objects.

Anthropomorphism & Abstraction. Objects of presence and question.

Is it an obsession or just an interest? Certainly I am fascinated by the idea of how an image or an object can be perceived as something...else. Something alive usually. I think we as a species have an in bult desire, or perhaps even a need,  to see or cast human traits onto inanimate objects or images. Perhaps in is a desire for company, to not be alone. But perhaps that is only a part of it, Certainly there are times when objects are seen as thing other than human or animal. So perhaps it is a desire to cast 'meaning' onto these objects? To find meaning in an increasingly confusing world?  A desire to understand and decipher the unknown through constant questioning? Part of the universal question, that sounds like something from Hitchhikers...

Making art. Daily practice. On the nature of play.

A good artist should always ask questions and in turn encourage the public to do the same. Back when I was on my first artist residency at Cow House Studios in Ireland, I developed a process of working which involved making a daily piece of art out of whenever was lying around. This can be considered as a form of play and as such it requires constant inquiry into possibilities. Not a unique practice I know, but certainly a helpful one at times. When on a residency one must develop new ideas quickly as a form of stimulus for other works. Not everything ‘works’, most of the time it is just the process that matters. However, it is by maintaining this constant level of inquiry that new ideas are created.
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One of the things that I found to 'play with' during this time was a set giant Jenga  which I utilised as a box of, sculptural, building blocks. These went through many incarnations, most of which were unrewarding, however the final outcome, Self-portrait with Giant Jenga has remained one of the most popular pieces in my portfolio to this day. That being said at the completion of my artist residency the giant Jenga set and stool remained at Cow House Studios so most people have only experienced it photographically…until now.
  
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