Ashley Pearce/ 23/ Sheffield/ BA (Hons) Creative Art Practice
Artist Statement
When I reflect upon my practice, I sometimes argue with my own personal views about what I have made, whether I like it, hate it or if I have created something that is somewhere in the middle of both of them instincts, I am extremely critical about my practice to the point where I almost supress and stop myself from creating work because I'm too controlling. But I know I will always have this type of battle with myself because my practice is of extreme and total importance to me.
My work is dark, sinister, raw, uneasy, truthful yet totally factitious, woven with lies, truths, mistruths and personal emotion. Maybe sometimes to the point where I don't realise how personal until I look back and reflect on what I have created. Sometimes to the point where I either feel I have been too honest or too personal, almost as if I have laid myself bare in front of anyone who views my work. My practice is urged on by impulses, spontaneity and pure gut instinct.
If someone views My work with disgust, love, hate it almost antagonizes and provokes me to go further, and continue to great deeper feelings, and create a bigger reaction, just like how sometimes I create work to purely provoke, goad and antagonize. So I guess it's almost a circle of reactions. my work is dark, raw, uneasy and sinister simply because that is how I work, I don’t create work which doesn’t have a honest gut feeling for me, as I would no longer be making my work for me.
Death is a constant, unrelenting and unapologetic theme in my work and is something that really interests me. It's an aspect of life that is extremely cruel, yet beautiful in its fragility, a theme that is romanticized and yet feared. A taboo that's often unspoken, without comprehension, yet is a status that often immortalizes people forever. Death occurs in order to give life to something else (nature vs. nurture) the idea that if we never died, would we ever fully live? A release from pain. (Memento Mori)
The idea that we are born to die; something that you can't hide from or cheat a common ground we all share and will all experience is something I find very interesting.
My practice is extremely complex, sometimes to the point where I don’t event fully understand certain aspects of it. So I don't expect everyone to be able to fully understand or appreciate it fully.
My practice is very multi-disciplinary from textiles, stitch, embroidery, installation, fashion, painting, ceramics, printmaking and sculpture.
My work is dark, sinister, raw, uneasy, truthful yet totally factitious, woven with lies, truths, mistruths and personal emotion. Maybe sometimes to the point where I don't realise how personal until I look back and reflect on what I have created. Sometimes to the point where I either feel I have been too honest or too personal, almost as if I have laid myself bare in front of anyone who views my work. My practice is urged on by impulses, spontaneity and pure gut instinct.
If someone views My work with disgust, love, hate it almost antagonizes and provokes me to go further, and continue to great deeper feelings, and create a bigger reaction, just like how sometimes I create work to purely provoke, goad and antagonize. So I guess it's almost a circle of reactions. my work is dark, raw, uneasy and sinister simply because that is how I work, I don’t create work which doesn’t have a honest gut feeling for me, as I would no longer be making my work for me.
Death is a constant, unrelenting and unapologetic theme in my work and is something that really interests me. It's an aspect of life that is extremely cruel, yet beautiful in its fragility, a theme that is romanticized and yet feared. A taboo that's often unspoken, without comprehension, yet is a status that often immortalizes people forever. Death occurs in order to give life to something else (nature vs. nurture) the idea that if we never died, would we ever fully live? A release from pain. (Memento Mori)
The idea that we are born to die; something that you can't hide from or cheat a common ground we all share and will all experience is something I find very interesting.
My practice is extremely complex, sometimes to the point where I don’t event fully understand certain aspects of it. So I don't expect everyone to be able to fully understand or appreciate it fully.
My practice is very multi-disciplinary from textiles, stitch, embroidery, installation, fashion, painting, ceramics, printmaking and sculpture.