Joseph Fogarty
MA:AP 2020
Joseph Fogarty
My work is an exploration of our relationship to objects. I am exploring this relationship in the context of a self-perpetuating consumerism that is one of the hallmarks of neo-liberalist economies. Our consumption of goods is facilitated through the promotion of brand and identity and is at best a manipulated choice that is creating what the French philosopher Jacques Rancière (2011) calls ‘mass individualism’.
We are involved in a constant quest for completeness where the corporeal and the physical are used as substitutes for the psychological and the spiritual. It is the transient in pursuit of the intangible.
The work focuses on the cycle of consumption that epitomises our unfulfilling entanglement with the world of materiality. There is a transition from the state of expectancy and the potential of the acquisition of a new object to the mundanity of its everyday use-value. This is symbolised by the stripping away of the carefully designed and engineered packaging.
Using materials associated with the presentation and the transportation of goods I am exploring this change in status. By manipulating and altering the state of the materials I draw a parallel between the expectations we have as individuals and our expectations as a society.
All that we are? ( II ), 2020
Plaster, wood, woodscrews, mirror, perspex, castors, paint
All that we are? ( II ), 2020
Plaster, wood, woodscrews, mirror, perspex, castors, paint
All that we are? ( II ), 2020
Plaster, wood, woodscrews, mirror, perspex, castors, paint
All that we are? ( I ), 2020
Styrofoam, plaster, stainless steel nuts & bolts, MDF, castors, paint.
All that we are? ( I ), 2020
Styrofoam, plaster, stainless steel nuts & bolts, MDF, castors, paint
Contact Details
Instagram: @fogarty_art