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Andy Rowe – Mixed Media, Found Objects and Images.

Andy Rowe • 1 September 2021

 Andy Rowe – Mixed Media, Found Objects and Images

Isolation Corona Table To Make Time Pass. Varnished acrylic, found objects and images on pasting table.

At the start of the lockdown period I realised that buying extra art materials would likely be difficult and so I decided to restrict myself to using materials that I already had around me in my home. The first item that I decided to make use of as a basis for an artwork was a pasting table that I found in storage that had previously been used for home decoration. I thought that it would be an interesting exercise and a constructive use of lockdown time to attempt to take this object away from its original purpose and re-employ it as a sculptural mixed media object.

Many of the images within the piece were taken from old magazines that I already had to hand. I chose them initially for their aesthetic qualities and for how I thought they would look when placed together within this new framework, removed from their original context. I realised at the time that some of the images could relate to my current circumstances and to those of the world outside.  However, many of the images did not reveal connections to me until later and I became intrigued with the processes I had unknowingly used to choose them. Image themes tended towards family, friendship, contact, being alone, breathing, and open and closed spaces. Two of the larger images within the piece specifically pertain to live music performance, an activity that was completely denied to people as the pandemic took hold. These images were drawn from photographs I had personally taken at the last live music concert I attended prior to the pandemic.

Extra varnish was the only item I ventured outside to buy as DIY shops remained open because they were deemed an essential service. I have always felt a need to coat my artworks in varnish or an equivalent coating as for me it serves to finalise them and to make them real, as well as providing a protective layer. I have reflected on this technique and think an explanation would come from my younger school years. As a class we would often be made to cover our exercise books with adhesive plastic to protect them and I would also attempt to do this with various membership cards for clubs that were in some of the comics I would read as a boy. For me, a membership card would not be authentic unless it had a plastic or vinyl coating that made it real, like my passport.

Isolation Corona Table To Make Time Pass. Varnished acrylic, found objects and images on pasting table.


The finished piece can be presented as both a sculptural object and as a mixed media painting. It still has the qualities of a foldable table and so can be displayed in various positions. My personal preference is to display it on its side, open at about 90 degrees. This enables almost all the detail to be viewed.

Dual Tape Intersection Feline Proximity Sound Painting Nearly Black And White. Varnished acrylic, hessian, found objects and images, microcassette recorders with prepared tapes on cupboard door.

Self-Portrait With Triceratops And Found Objects. Varnished acrylic, found objects and images on canvas.


On finishing the Isolation Corona Table project, I then produced work of a similar type while lockdown continued, using found images and objects and recontextualising them into new pieces. I also create work as a sound artist and so as well as producing audio and video pieces, I explored ways of presenting sound within these mixed media pieces. Sometimes I included found minicassette tapes within the painting itself. I also used cassette players as part of the painting, playing sound while the painting is observed. An example of this technique is in the later lockdown piece Dual Tape Intersection Feline Proximity Sound Painting, which can be viewed here : https://vimeo.com/422812100 


Further details and examples of work : www.slatepipe.co.uk

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