Edition 1 of 3

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Encounters - the Nature of Materials (2018) is an installation and photographic project by Carlos Sebastia and Jane Pickersgill.

The artists met whilst studying together on the Masters (Fine Art) at University of the Arts London from which they graduated in 2018. Carlos is now based in Valencia, Spain whilst Jane lives and works in London, UK.

This project expresses their mutual interest in working between 2D and 3D and in the manipulation of perception by these processes. The physical materials employed were steel, aluminium, wood, paper and rigid acrylic sheet. Imagery was overlaid onto the sculptural objects by way of projection.

Carlos's practice is more experiential than Jane’s. It revolves around creative photography, video installations and painting. Her practice is more materially focussed; usually starting with investigations into form; a natural consequence of her previous career as a fashion designer.

These images represent phase 2 of a collaborative project which was conceived whilst the artists were on a residency together.

Phase 1 is a large installation of sculptural objects with projected lighting. This was photographed and a further installation was made with the large format photographic print forming a surface with an installation placed in front of and upon it: including a further projection. Thus, 3D became 2D and was then returned to 3D.

Phase 2 is a project involving photography, paper and lighting small sculptures employed in Phase 1.

With a desire to return to the physical materials from which the original images evolved the artists photographed some of the sculptural components in extreme close up. The resulting images were then folded, cut and manipulated with lighting before reprinting. The aim is to confound, to confuse the viewer. The observer has agency in the finished work – having to determine precise form, and scale. There is a monolithic and monumental quality to them, despite the modest materials used. It could be said that they play into a contemporary strain of surrealism.