ALASTAIR DICKSON
I love the process of making art. It gives me the opportunity to explore, to play, to laugh and to meditate on the dualities of life: the Apollonian and Dionysian tendencies that define who we are and are often a source of tension within us. A similar dynamic tension is what I look for in my work, through the interplay of dark and light, literally and metaphorically, and in the struggle between control and abandon.
My studio contains an extensive collection of what is commonly called ‘junk’: broken toys, contents of childhood treasure boxes, strange seed pods, champagne corks, wood scraps, all with the potential to become transformed. My challenge is to incorporate these dissonant forms into compositions that hold both the eye and the mind. The alchemists dreamed of turning lead into gold, a potent metaphor relevant to my art making. An impossible dream, yet always something to strive for.
My studio contains an extensive collection of what is commonly called ‘junk’: broken toys, contents of childhood treasure boxes, strange seed pods, champagne corks, wood scraps, all with the potential to become transformed. My challenge is to incorporate these dissonant forms into compositions that hold both the eye and the mind. The alchemists dreamed of turning lead into gold, a potent metaphor relevant to my art making. An impossible dream, yet always something to strive for.
