Steven Emmanuel

The perverse threesome of the pencil, the paper and the rubber (2009), Pencil, paper & rubber, dimensions variable

My practice is predominantly about the act of putting duration into form. These durative incarnations are cultivated through sculptural forms and these forms have their own tangibility and physical life.

Do not touch (2009), C-type print, 120 cm x 100 cm

Labour and meditation are often perversely married to one another in the process of capturing everything and nothing, creating work that congratulates its own stupidity and thanklessness whilst dwelling upon its consideration and its own perceived importance.

Red or Blue? (2010), Red & blue wax crayon on paper, 122 cm x 152 cm

I have used quotidian methods and ideas of duration to try and picture the physicality of nothing and better understand its context within everything.

A comprehensive study of nothing (2008), lightbox installation, dimensions variable

Ideas of redundancy, context and humour are all at play and often finely balanced with their opposites creating contradiction upon contradiction. I continually try to create a discourse within the work between certain themes and ideas, for instance between process and duration, ontology and meontology, form and aesthetic.

Sorting the hundreds from the thousands (2009), Plastic cups and cake decorations, 8.5cm x 7.5 cm diameter

Often the meaning or thought process is dissectible at different levels, but always with a considered disclosure and strong belief that not ‘everything’ should always be said or even shown.

Seven folds (2010), Paper and a screw, dimensions variable

At the moment I am engaging with the idea of art itself as the subject matter, and understanding the physical and philosophical ingredients of art.

Matrimony (2009), Two pieces of wood and a bag of 5” nails, 17.5cm x 10cm x 7cm

I am thinking of art as an autopoietic machine that is self-creating and continually nourishing itself. Meanwhile, I see the artist being someone within this machine who takes things apart and puts them back together again in a new way, re-mediating reality and re-configuring it into something for the next.

Steven Emmanuel’s Website

Thanks to Scott at Art Found Out for finding this artist!