Clare Tottem
'Insectinside'.
April 5th - May 8th 2001

While studying for my MA in Ceramics, I decided to explore the genre of the 'grotesque' as a way of explaining my apparently narrative-based sculptural work. Here began an interest in entomology, the aesthetics and characteristics of insects and their longstanding effect and relationship with humans, and the many questions that culminate from such analogies. Their diversity of form has always been a fascination to us and increasingly they 'invade' our imaginations, as exemplified through their use as symbols in language and creative mediums such as science fiction film and literature.

The surrealist nature of some of the work - the amalgamation of different seemingly incongruous forms, has long been a natural creative expression of the self, seen in many artists' work in this grotesque genre.

Today, through the medium of Film and Television, we have learnt to accept the incongruity of diverse images juxtaposed with one another through the process of editing, with often only a narrative link to make sense of it. In the same way we accept the pace and mass of confusing and often conflicting information incorporated into contemporary living.

This has influenced my work, as hopefully it influences everyone in their acceptance and understanding of art forms. Artists strive for a more accurate expression of their 'reality', and so have often turned to devices such as distortion, disparity and façade as a means of conveying a 'truer' expression of the human condition. For me, whether it is didactic or purely a celebration of the human imagination, it is undoubtedly an imagination that shaped the past and leaves the future as always ambiguous and alluring.