Stu Burke
I am a recent Master’s graduate from Teeside University that, now, lives in Sheffield, and resides at Gloam Studios. My works possess a potentiality in which they almost do something and nothing simultaneously.
Using found materials and objects, my practice rigorously explores, through playful enquiry, the limitations of what sculpture can be. Through the application of gravity, tension, suspension and balance, the works created are often gestural or energetic and afford moments in which the viewer becomes an active participant in the work. When creating sculpture, I act as a drawer, drawing with materials, to incite a dialogue between space and shape. This process is organic and largely experimental, giving way to chance, and unexpected outcomes. Moreover, the studio process allows the materials to become active agents in the realisation of the work, which I follow tacitly with anticipation. Due to the DIY nature of my practice, the works often posses a temporality and honesty as evident in the marks, rips and scars that the materials show. A common conversation within my sculptural practice is the conflict between weight and weightlessness. Through this dialogue, the sculptures demonstrate a potentiality in which they almost do something and nothing simultaneously.