Scott Elk

www.scottelk.com
@scottelkartwork

The topic statement for this body of work is: exploring grief as a conceptual framework to investigate composition as a foundation for strong image making within the context of expressive abstraction; in this regard, the interactions between various art forms are fundamental to my process. In basic terms, the series is a meditation on how image, object, and sound came together to express grief, and specifically, working with ceramics, drawing / painting, and a three-movement soundscape. Visually I used predominately black in my use of glaze, and black and white tonal compositions in my wall works.

As an artist who works across disciplines, I often think about the materiality of the different mediums I work in, to find, and lean into what they do best, and then formally playing within this space. When artworks that spring from the same conceptual place are placed together, they start to have a conversation. In my practice, this element of dialogue is of particular interest, even to the point of manipulation, or engineering, or influence, with each artwork potentially suggesting ways forward to the artworks around them.

Artists that have informed this work include the Abstract Expressionists Robert Motherwell, Richard Diebenkorn, and Franz Klien, as well as American ceramicist Peter Volkos, and contemporary multidisciplinary artists Greyson Perry, Gareth Mason, Sterling Ruby, and Australian ceramicists Glen Barkley, Ebony Russell, Greg Daly, and Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran.