Work Case Studies New Town Weeds
This work was developed for a festival show at Gallery TEN in Edinburgh. The series was a response to Edinburgh’s New Town architecture, particularly the ornamental column capitals, cornicing and ceiling roses that are often a feature of these buildings’ interiors.
Referencing the orderliness and motifs that characterize neo-classicism I substituted common urban weeds where you might expect palm fronds and acanthus leaves. Taking an 'Adamesque' approach in my use of repeat patterns and variations on a theme this work injects a little 21st century irony into the idealized aesthetic apparent in much of Edinburgh’s New Town. Weeds, including prehistoric and invasive species that promise to outlive human civilization, are elevated from their usual position in pavement cracks and brown field sites and their forms are incorporated into symmetrical designs intended to echo the intricate interior plasterwork of Georgian and Victorian times.
I created the work for the exhibition Print Fusion using screenprinting and lasercutting techniques. Gallery TEN's location in Edinburgh's West End provided the initial inspiration for this body of work.
