Dale Wells
Much of my creative output is coloured by the heightened sense of reality I live with following a severe mental breakdown. I find that the imaginative process stills my mind and helps to focus the churn of thoughts and physical expressions which burn beneath the surface. My experiences of the modern office environment and the politics therein often inform the structure and narrative of my pieces which, in turn, serve as microcosms for a larger concern.
Thematically, I am very much interested in the terrors which man inflicts upon his fellow man by way of and shielded by administration and bureaucracy. Numbers play a large part in that and how a living, thinking entity can be reduced to a bland statistic. My aims are to relay a little of this in the form of tableau, often with an ambiguous constituent which is left to the viewer to interpret.
In addition to my own phobias, I am very much influenced by classic horror literature and film and by the minutiae of real world atrocities. I do not seek to recreate the events I draw upon, as such, but instead like to use them as the foundation from which a story may grow.
I am primarily a miniaturist, carefully constructing my environments with a variety of re-purposed objects. I find that the layering effect of mixed media is comparable to the living strata of our own surroundings and allows me to achieve the visual complexity for which I strive. To tie in the frequently disparate nature of found object compilation, I like to use traditional paint techniques to provide a veneer of realism.
Essentially I view my art as a form of catharsis, an un-medicated expression where I can explore my fears at a safe distance, within an environment of my own making.
Much of my creative output is coloured by the heightened sense of reality I live with following a severe mental breakdown. I find that the imaginative process stills my mind and helps to focus the churn of thoughts and physical expressions which burn beneath the surface. My experiences of the modern office environment and the politics therein often inform the structure and narrative of my pieces which, in turn, serve as microcosms for a larger concern.
Thematically, I am very much interested in the terrors which man inflicts upon his fellow man by way of and shielded by administration and bureaucracy. Numbers play a large part in that and how a living, thinking entity can be reduced to a bland statistic. My aims are to relay a little of this in the form of tableau, often with an ambiguous constituent which is left to the viewer to interpret.
In addition to my own phobias, I am very much influenced by classic horror literature and film and by the minutiae of real world atrocities. I do not seek to recreate the events I draw upon, as such, but instead like to use them as the foundation from which a story may grow.
I am primarily a miniaturist, carefully constructing my environments with a variety of re-purposed objects. I find that the layering effect of mixed media is comparable to the living strata of our own surroundings and allows me to achieve the visual complexity for which I strive. To tie in the frequently disparate nature of found object compilation, I like to use traditional paint techniques to provide a veneer of realism.
Essentially I view my art as a form of catharsis, an un-medicated expression where I can explore my fears at a safe distance, within an environment of my own making.