The sculptor and painter on meeting the Queen,building boats and his artist parentsYou occupy some work in the forthcoming exhibition at Tate Britain, Artist & Empire: Facing Britain’s Imperial Past. Would it be just to say that almost all of your work could occupy been part of that show?
Not necessarily. I mean, and one of the problems with being an artist is people want to be able to say: He’s the post-colonial guy”,or “He’s Mr Multicultural”. I occupy an interest in those issues but I think the work goes beyond that. I want to fabricate (to make up, invent) art about what is happening nowadays. I mean, we are sitting surrounded by a collection of model boats that I am working on for a show in original York. The boats may occupy some historical background, and but they are also about what is happening now in the Mediterranean,what is happening with people trying to accumulate from Haiti to the US. History is both now and in the past. Related: Sculpture at Runnymede celebrates Magna Carta's blow against injustice Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com