My work is concerned with the interests and hobbies we indulge in as children and the shift in perspective on these that takes place as one progresses from childhood to adulthood. The interest in dinosaurs is a good example here. To children, dinosaurs are awesome, fantastical creatures that will eat anything that gets in their way, while to the adult informed mind they raise a new set of themes to consider, such as the age of the earth and its timeline, evolution and the (arguably) clear transition from dinosaur to bird. The somewhat foggy area of reconstructed prehistoric anatomy lends itself well to the designers of toys, video games and movie directors (notably Steven Spielberg) who make the most of this in their depictions of dinosaurs. Recent outcomes of genetic science, such as the birth of a severely endangered Guar from a domestic cow, has given hope to those who wish to see living Mammoths and other megafauna roaming the planet again, regardless of the questionable idea of reanimating extinct beasts. I am fascinated by the idea of bringing back one individual animal as a scientific stunt, only to force the creature to once again be the last of its kind.
In responding to these ideas through sculptural means, my works hang on to the toys that were their reference points. The illustrative, ham-fisted style in which the modelled and fabricated pieces are rendered hopefully ensures that the work has a humorous edge, and prevents the work from being seen as directly critical of ideas of genetic resurrection or reanimation.