Simon COTTRELL – are we looking at small machines, or … animals ?

‘I create objects that address their nature or utility only by achieving an honesty towards it. I often use shapes that present various allusions while never overtly depicting any single subject. These pieces are drawn from an attempt to embody two subtle paradoxes… the possibilities of a tenuous calm or of complex simplicities. The edges of simple forms are broken so that the defining outline is unclear; simple allusions to nature are broken by an obvious man-made production.’ (Simon Cottrell at Gallery Funaki)

Simon Cottrell - brooch ‘Five dimples two whites and a tail’ 2007 – Monel, stainless steel, plastic coating

« In recent work I am aiming to trigger various quiet yet resonant contradictions that blur our abilty to make clear sense of the things we see. There is both simplicity and complexity, static and growth, volume and lightness, randomness and order, monotone and dynamic, tension and calm, in the forms and structural details. Initially appearing quite austere, the more time we engage with each piece the less definitive they become. If there is a possibility of a clear line between my work being perceived as one way or another, I will often try to sit on that line. Exactly where that line lies however all depends on the attentiveness of the viewer. When we are presented with forms that are evocative of something familiar yet ambiguous, our curiosity is triggered and our visual engagement is lengthened…  it is never clear, are we looking at small machines or floral bouquets?… monsters or clouds?… plants or animals ? » (Simon Cottrell on NoovoEditions)

Simon Cottrell (Australia) – ‘Six tall dimples radiating through/behind’ brooch – 2008

Simon Cottrell - ‘Back and forth in tempers’ brooch -  2010  (from his page on kit&caboodle)

Simon Cottrell - ‘Bang in/at plant’ – Brooch- monel with powder-coating-  2008

Simon Cottrell -  object ‘Awkward’ 2005 – Monel (15 x 15 x 13 cm )

Simon Cottrell -  brooch ‘Tall dimple, blobs’ 2007 – Monel stainless steel
Simon Cottrell -  brooch ’100mm deep concave circle’ 2008 – Monel enamel paint

Simon Cottrell -  brooch ‘Variable focus black’ 2007 Monel (chemical blackened), stainless steel

 

« What we might see as being ‘simple’ always has an underlying ‘complexity’. What we sense as being ‘calm’ is in actual fact, only a balance of ‘tensions’ at a level beneath our immediate perception. Our perception of things as being one way or another depends on the level of our sensory attentiveness.
The visual ‘simplicity’ of a single leaf contains a complexity within its moisture laden cellular structure. It could also be said that each singular cell is ‘simple’ in relation to the complex structure it lies within. And of course further again that singular cell has a deeper atomic complexity in relation to the singularity of the cell in itself.
Complex or simple…Calm or tense…Serious or playful…Ordered or random… Blurred or clear… Singular or multiple… Static or growing…Flat or with volume…Man-made or natural…
If there is a clear line between my work being one way or another, I will often try to sit on that line.
Exactly where that line lies however, all depends on the attentiveness of the viewer.
The degree of our sensory attentiveness of course plays a fundamental role in the human creative process.
It is sensory attentiveness that enables us to understand the nature of cause and effect within the production of material artifact. It allows us to absorb the delicacies of the methods used and the intricate details of their specific outcomes.
Every new physical manipulation of material, or thought about compositional elements is informed by a bank of previous insights which allows a kind of prediction as to what will happen, and sets up further questions as to the potentials for future possibilities.
By simply gaining more insight into the nature and manner of our pre-thought perception it gives greater clarity into how and what has been done and also to what may be done next within the creative process.
While my work is of course a direct embodiment of my own mental/physical processes, it is also devised as a metaphor for the inherent nature of the processes themselves.
Neither my work nor I will ever scream a definitive manifesto of our aims and intentions. I am not really attempting to tell you anything. I am simply materialising my view of the ‘nature of things’, which in turn is just giving you something to look at, and hopefully bringing you in closer.
Getting used to looking closely at small things, will always leads us to look even closer at larger things. «