Trace2018: Jeremy Scott and Sarah Youseman

Dates:8 June 2018 to 12 June 2018
Times:10am to 4.30pm
Email:sarahyouseman@hotmail.co.uk

Two emerging artists exploring ideas through painting and sculpture present Trace2018 in their first collaboration.

Semi-abstract paintings and installation challenge the integrity veracity of 21st century information integrity.

Jeremy and Sarah have overlapping interests in accidental or disrupted mark-making, uncovering inspiration from divergent sources. They make traces within contemporary contexts.

artist’s statement – jeremy scott

My practice is built around an expressive and spontaneous response to objects and situations, producing work in a bold, process driven manner. The painterly result is fractured by the accidental and never denies its own development. My aim is to create images that move away from mere literal description, towards fundamentally instinctive renderings that offer the opportunity for dialogue.

As a painter, a deliberately limited palette of bold colours contributes to a raw simplicity which is augmented by the frequent choice of reclaimed or ‘found’ surfaces and my willingness to embrace non-traditional artist’s implements such as home-made scrapers and tools more readily associated with the building trade.

The subjects that I choose are governed by instinctive reaction aided by a healthy element of chance. We are immersed in an everyday bounty of subjects that offer the possibility of empathetic connection which can form a conduit for those small histories that are often lost amidst the clatter of grand narratives. The pictures I make communicate a very personal reaction to a stimulus, but I endeavour to leave adequate space for the imaginative interpretation of the viewer.

artist’s statement – sarah youseman

My ideas are expressed through the interplay between digital and traditional material using the existing technology of film and tactile handling qualities of paint to produce my work.  The transmission of digital images through television, hand-held devices and internet is open to corruption. Corruption by noise, weather conditions, human interference through software or malicious intent brings into question what are we actually looking at when we see information on a screen?

My paintings use the mediated, corrupted image as a springboard for translation into paint. This brings into my practice exploration into materiality and process and what constitutes an authentic experience when looking at art. It is turning away from the perceived technological sublime that digital technology is of great excellence and beauty to question this by drawing attention to glitches in transmission and disrupted life events. The process of producing a painting inspired by coding or electrical malfunction is holding a mirror to the more usual timeline of starting with a handmade work and ending with a digital reproduction.

The process of electronic distortion interacts with the source imagery as a form of relational narrative which is extended by my own contribution, inviting the viewer to reflect on the effect of their own experiences and the world around them.