British artist James Rawson plays with boundaries that lie between sculpture and painting. His fundamental material is charcoal that signs a strong connection to ancestors and human spiritual side.
Charcoal is almost pure carbon and we are carbon-based life forms. Charcoal and humans are one and the same, two carbon objects. You could think of them like black mirrors, what you are really seeing is a representation of yourself. You are the artwork and the artwork is you, states the James Rawson
James Rawson‘s material-driven process is deeply minimalist in appearance, resonating with enigmatic structures and ideal sculptural forms. His works recall the influence of Minimalism and the Gutai avant-garde movement.
By placing emphasis on the process and act of artistic creation, rather than a stylised compositional narrative, Rawson’s art is as conceptual as it is physical.
At once, James Rawson removes the artist’s gestural hand while simultaneanously conveying the physical, corporeal reality of the art object itself. Grounded with the burnt embers of charcoal, there is tactile and textured nature to the artwork, where there remains a presence a human quality of the artwork, with viewers often tempted to reach out and interact with each piece.
James Rawson is a multi-disciplinary artist. Through a process of crushing and sieving he seperates out the charcoal into different grades which he then skillfully uses to create varying levels of texture. Mixing them with mediums such as resins and glue in ratios that only he truely understands after years of experimantion.
To see more follow James Rawson’s art on Instagram.
