| Description | With contact sheet.
'In my bid to work with as many of Sheffield’s creative community I stumbled across Stephen in his studio on Valley Road. He gave me this statement about his work; I make stuff from poor materials. I make stuff so it won't last, so it won't sell. I use dust, chalk and blackboards, audio tape and 8 bit samplers. I like things that evaporate or melt, things that glitch and have to be rewound to listen again. I think I like things to be humble and quietly shocking. I read this from the dust jacket on a book by Bill Drummond the other day. The book was sort of questioning contemporary art practice, so the book was about: Why we make art. And what we want from it. And what it’s worth. And why we think about it. And where it is going. And is it ever too big? And is it getting better? And why we buy it. And why it can make us angry. And why do people have to write about it. And what is it for. And why is it important? And why sometimes we want to destroy it. And is my art better than your art?
I am currently developing work for a collaborative project called “can you hear me now?” Working with Andrea Hadley-Johnson, Exhibitions Officer at Derby Art Gallery and Museum, and artist Anna Mawby, I will be devising site specific and materials specific text pieces based on audience contribution. The exhibition opens in February 2012. In January 2012 I will be installing work at The Courtauld Institute of Art in London as part of their biannual series of exhibitions curated by art history students at the institution. I will also be a resident artist at Bank Street Arts in Sheffield from September 2011, working collaboratively with a group of sixth form students from King Edward V11 School and Language College, Sheffield where I am Curriculum Leader in art and photography.' - Interview with Stephen Carley by Clive Egginton |