‘They’re digging up the road again’, 2021, Mixed Media, FujiFlex digital print
‘They’re digging up the road again’ showcases a collection of works situated around themes of road repairs, that occur in contemplative moments, from my working life in and around the construction industry; alongside a concern as to how we see and respond to the manual workers objects in an ever-digitised world. I create an emotive dialogue around the disorder, repetition and impermanence of the objects that surround us in our daily lives, seeking to extract and share the hidden beauty and strength found in the mundane; searching unconventional methods of interpretation and presentation, exploring and exploiting the tension between chaos and order, forcing them to give up their secret transient moments.
My work is an on-going exploration of the convergence of digital and analogue realms and considers the aesthetics and conditions of production representative and symptomatic of our time, where pigments and pixels push and pull at each other. I maintain a protean practice, currently employing a combination of media, including photography, painting and sculpture to create hybrid works which reveal abstract environments, investigating relationships between colour, form and repetition, referring to the diversity of cultural-historical urban codes, and that may be reminiscent of a workers site, whilst leaving the work open to individual interpretation. Assemblage forms an essential role in the process, combining elements of industrial production such as plastics, fluorescents, foils, concrete and plexiglass.
Whilst recognising the different cultural influences that form part of our interpretation, the work strives to create a transcendent yet, dynamic emotional response by reaching the core elements of perception and meaning inherent in us all. Colour in particular is explored for its emotive response. Imagery which challenges boundaries and stimulates the imagination has always been at the forefront of my practice.
Personal website – suehicks.com
Personal Instagram – @suehicksartystuff