The Work

A chapter in the history of the world.
Genetically altered forms resembling living organisms.
The forms are part of an intimate landscape experience.
An inspired desire to capture something of a living presence.

A thread runs through the work linking the pieces, best described by the notion of the eternal tree as a metaphor for the idea that we are nature and nature is us. Linked in every way. What is one is also the other.

Discovering nature as ourselves has found our place as participant, not as an unconnected force but remembered from within. Precisely what that thread is or where it is taking me is unknown to me. The content of this journey is revealed by way of each work, so it is both intriguing and unknowable at the same time.

Words regarding the work tend to dilute.

The work feels connected, as if it should "be". The forms have taken on some kind of pertinent presence.

I always sense a kind of familiarity in the work, when I feel good about it.

Explanations miss the point. The forms are simply there. It has a presence but requests no explanation. Little point in wondering what it's for.

The work does not require a response and is neither self conscious nor invasive. It is silent, but that does not mean nothing is said.

Engagement and participation are encouraged by a slow and contemplative journey through the work. In 1998, I made a sculpture called Garden of Eden and a number of installations since have made reference to the idea of a garden. The Garden as metaphor for the environment.

Ken Scarlett, well-known curator and arts writer pointed out in his essay A Sculptural Journey published in a catalogue of my work called Images in the Mirror and I quote: - "The virginal, pure white of the work is somewhat misleading, for the Garden of Eden has been defiled, there is a hidden cynicism, an implied criticism of society and it's neglect of the environment".

So if it happens that an artist "says" something he does so by subjecting content to invention and metaphor.

Everything reminds us of something, intended or not, to free himself the artist must break away from whatever went before. Especially in his own work, take another step, move on, don't remain in the same place, take a chance. Art is not made in a comfort zone.

Keenness of vision is a means to an end, that end being the transformation of things seen in a coherent and personal universe. So what you make of it depends on the keenness of your personal vision.

Events inform content. Content by implication constructs. Art evaluates "being there", linking events at the edge to living the chaotic silence of our personal space.

Some constructs are strange and unfamiliar. The work contains elements of the known and the abstract. The relationship between the pieces is intriguing but unknowable. Components relate to other components by the presence of being there but no amount of dialogue will explain what is there.

Adrian Mauriks