My personal philosophy on recycled materials has come about largely through artistic accidents upon my part. When I say this, I mean to simply refer to my own experience and story about how I began to work with recycled materials in my own art.
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I am a firm believer in process orientation in the creation of artwork. I see the need for exploration and this includes discovering through accidents that occur in the creative process. It was such an accident that happened to me during the mid-1990s that I was to embark upon a whole new way of working as a result.
Stumbling across vast amounts of ocean letter washing up on the beaches of Australia opened my eyes to a number of things simultaneously.
Firstly, I saw that there were literally, tons upon tons of these plastic objects washing up on our beaches. Secondly, I noticed that I was amazed as to the beauty of these objects that were being washed and sun-bleached and rounded off by the constant banging against the rocks and rubbing against the sand.
Thirdly, I was awakened as to the possibility of using these objects, these recycled materials in my art creations. This latest thing was a real surprise to me because I had never thought or had the occasion to work with recycled materials ever before in the process of my creating art.
My philosophy as a result, has deepened and expanded somewhat over the years as I have worked with these materials and gone on to develop a significant varied body of work. This body of work has extended to include not only, but also, assemblage, sculpture, public art, installations, paintings, prints and even books and DVDs.
