_1215_fine_art_catalogue

Chris Welton
chris.welton@alpha-ra.co.uk | 07581 393001 | www.chriswelton.co.uk
Up to the age of about two years old we are not fully self-aware and cannot discriminate between others and
ourselves. In fact the first lie you tell is an important indicator that you know that others cannot read your
thoughts.
By three years old we begin to have others in mind when we behave, and as we continue to age our selfawareness
develops. But we never fully separate ourselves from our surroundings, and involuntarily
behaviours like body language mirroring are physical indications that our identity continues to be
subconsciously framed by our circumstances and those around us.
My artistic practice is an existential journey, which considers how the ‘negative spaces’ of life - the
surroundings in which we exist and respond to but don’t control - define our identity much more rigidly than
any frail, artificial, lines of self-image we might draw for ourselves.
In the context of the omnipresent ‘framing’ delivered by today’s permanent online social connectivity,
moderated by postmodern angst about what we can trust, I investigate ‘presence’ and the powerful impact of
its absence. I challenge issues of authorship, time, relationships, and narrative to draw attention to our
constant struggle with the morphing spectres of identity, and the ‘unknown unknowns’ that frame us all.
The Stranger LARP is a meta work created for the 20-15 Degree Show under the pseudonym of Visible
Psychology Inc., itself an online pseudo organisational identity ostensibly created to explore human
behaviours and the implications of personal identity.
www.visiblepsychology.co.uk
‘Goldspink Lane’, 2015 (detail)
‘Goldspink Lane’, 2015. (immersive installation)
Chris Welton
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