Liam Ashbrook

Artist Statement

I make art because of the is the ritual of it all—pulling from the world around me, letting it sit and transform in the kiln of my body, and translating what I feel into image, color, and shape so the viewer can step into my shoes and see what I see. I try to emphasize that transformative narrative by literally taking from the world around me – every material I used for this series was found, stolen or gifted (even the paint.) Every material Has its own story. The bones, for example, I had discovered two year prior, taken last spring, and then re-buried over the summer. when I tried to find them again months ago, I got lost in the forest, and only when I had resigned myself to the fact that I couldn’t take them for personal gain and sat to eat my apple did I look over and see the skull not five feet away. Every Material has its own story, and most of those stories have been forgotten. The objects remember though, and every dirt speck and scratch are evidence of an experience. As someone who wrestles with repressed and forgotten memories, I know the power that the unknown wields. I think of art as objects people put specific energies and intentions into, you can tell by looking at a piece how much care and time is imbued in that object, and the ritual (painting, sculpting, collecting) they used to communicate those intentions. For me, it is easier to engage and create when an object already has an energy and an experience— there is a foundation to build off of and have a conversation with.

I wanted my pieces to exist in their own universe. A self-contained space filled with repeating motifs and themes that the viewer could immerse themselves in, discovering and creating their own connections. For me, the red string has been a metaphor for these connections for a long time—weather It has been the red string of fate, or a conspiracy board, the red remains consistently strong and eye catching despite its surroundings, and the string is flexible enough to lie loose or be pulled taught depending on the strength of the connection. I come from an art historical background of studying medieval Christian iconography, which often manifests as a puzzle, where one is untangling the meaning of specific symbology using historical contexts. I wanted the viewer to have that same experience of uncovering the symbols meaning, untangling the red string, using the historical context of their own life. The pieces exist in a self-contained space, and when you engage with them you enter that space and change it with your body, your thoughts, your interpretations. There were many repeating motifs-- flowers, fruit, bones, chess pieces, dead flies and more – and each holds a significance in my mind. But the pieces are abstract enough and filled up enough with visual information that the viewer can pick and choose and take what they need and create their own significances. I don’t want my initial intentions to overshadow what others see and take from the work.