Katy O Neil
'Do you think they need to go a bit higher.?'
October 30th - November 28th 2001

Our relationship with the urban environment, technology and the machine are an ongoing exploration within my work. Buildings and cityscapes are an inspiration for form and coupling of pieces. Technology and machinery are incorporated within the surface as impressed metals, and incised marks which are used as symbols which represent the computer, machinery and man's impact on the land. The metal inclusions are used to accentuate the feeling of compression within the geological strata, which are represented by the layers of oxide-laden clay built up through the forms.

Having lived in run down areas of two cities during my student days, my work became increasingly involved with reflecting the objects that I found abandoned by the side of the road on my journey to college. These included old televisions, washing machines, computers and car parts. Through this I became aware that although technological advances affect our everyday lives, and incredible though they are, we quickly discard them for the latest model. It is the aspect of immediate redundancy that I find intriguing and I can see a time in the future when the land will reveal layers of man-made rather than organic materials.

This inner city decay is contrasted dramatically with the experience of a short city break to Manhattan Island, New York City, USA. Views across the city from the top of the World Trade Centre in turn greatly influenced the negative and positive spacing, surface pattern and texture.