neil childs

Questions of dysfunction and renewal infuse the work, the constructions imply functionality and purpose but tend to frustrate this end. 

Throughout there is a suggestion of physical and mental deterioration, they are about responding to the absurd and momentary lucidity.“The Sum of All Wonders Lies in Ruins” (2024) sits in this moment, on the one hand finality and loss, on the other it talks of potential and possibilities.

These themes of frailty in the human condition have become part of an attempt to explore broader ideas of systemic dysfunction, resistance and the pursuit of the transcendent.“Lift Your Skinny Fists” (2024) is the language of separation, faith for the faithless and a yearning for communion. 

Drawing on references from Arte Povera, ready mades, the structural qualities of the large-scale work suggest permanence but despite their material properties - as with the ideas they discuss - they are not necessarily definitive statements. There is always space within the forms, often movement within that space and with each showing, there is an opportunity to develop the pieces further. 

“We are not in the least afraid of ruins”

- Buenaventura Durruti