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Michael Bowdidge

Country of residence United Kingdom
Contact m_bowdidge@hotmail.com

During his career Michael Bowdidge has explored the use of various media, having initially worked as a sculptor before becoming increasingly fascinated by the possibilities of digital cameras and Photoshop in the 1990s. The last three years have seen a return to his sculptural roots, albeit usually on a much larger scale than in his earlier work, whilst he has also sought to retain the simplicity and immediacy that he gained from working with digital media in these recent assemblages and installations.

In his practice there are currently two main sculptural strands. One strand (or pole) deals with objects ‘as themselves’ and seeks to show them and their surroundings in a new light through changes in their position and orientation (by upending or inverting them, for example). The second one makes use of similar formal strategies, but is more concerned with what these objects can become or allude to whilst still remaining ‘themselves’.

Formal rigour has always been of importance to Bowdidge, as well as sensitivity to the specificities of a given context, which might include material, historical, cultural and spatial factors. It is through the consideration of these various aspects of the materials and/or the environment that the work arises.

Most of his recent studio practice makes use old furniture and other discarded objects. He is particularly interested in the detritus of the 50s, 60s and 70s, although sometimes he also includes objects from outside this period. However, this is the everyday aesthetic that the artist grew up with, and one which continues to hold a powerful attraction for him.

Bowdidge has always felt an affinity for these things, but as he has grown older he has become increasingly aware that they are slowly disappearing from the world, much as many of the people who used to use them have. So in some sense the materiality of this practice serves as a kind of memento-mori, in that these objects gently remind us of disappearance and absence, however it would be wrong to characterize this interest as nostalgic. It is better understood as a quiet calling of the attention to the passing of time.

By making use of these things their ‘normal’ trajectories through time are interrupted (as they interrupt the ‘normal' trajectory of the artist). Their re-inscription as art is always both unforeseeable and timely, as are the final forms of the assemblages within which they are embedded.

Michael Bowdidge graduated from Middlesex Polytechnic in 1989 and is undertaking doctoral research at Edinburgh College of Art.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/michael_bowdidge/

 

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