About me
My practice is centred around creating art beyond the visual.Solely, or enhanced, by olfactory elements, I create art that aims to stimulate certain psychological responses; as an aid to invoking certain memories and evoking a variety of emotions; ultimately enabling the viewer to engage with the art in a new way.I have been an olfactory artist:- an olfactivist -: for over 15 years and in that time I have created a multitude of different scenarios, installations and artworks. From blindfolding my audience and transporting them with odours to another place or time, to exhibiting the essence of a suburban London street in little boxes of familiar odours.Rather than merely recreating or replicating smells as samples or map markers, I bring them into the studio as a medium to draw and paint with. Through sculpture, painting, print and the invisible, my practice delivers art that can surprise, intrigue, and even amuse.Presenting metal plants with the aroma of bubble gum, scratch ‘n’ sniff oil paintings, and scent infused silk screen prints; one of which is a permanent exhibit in the medical art archive at The Gordon Museum of Pathology, London.With my art practice I am continually challenging the language and etiquette of the gallery - ‘don’t touch’, ‘stay behind the line’, ‘don’t get too close’- I am upsetting that concept by specifically requesting that people actually touch the paintings and artworks, rub them and then sniff the odour released. My current research; concerning the effect an odour can have on somebodies’ emotional wellbeing; has led to a collaborative, B.S.I. funded, project with a team of neuroscientists at Durham University, investigating the possible benefits of certain colour and smell combinations in the treatment of Alzheimer’s and other degenerative brain dementias and it is our intension to present our findings within a care home setting.I am now looking forward to taking my research further by embarking on a PhD, continuing my academic adventure.
Skills
#sculpture#painting#silkscreen#perfume#performance
