Christopher Carroll
My work, though disparate in media – encompassing video, sculpture, painting and installation – is tightly focused in my chosen subject: one’s relationship to the environment. My most recent work echoes my struggle to engage with the natural environment that I encounter as a result of urban life. My work is, ultimately, absurd, depressing, frustrating and potentially beautiful. Despite the reoccurring themes of defeat found throughout my practice I believe that my work is not that of a cynic but instead that of a Romantic; its central operation is to make the insignificant appear monumental, the empty full, and the shallow deep. It is a task that the early romantic philosopher, Novalis, defined as an act of ‘qualitative potentialzing’. Although the use of this operation in my work does not solve the great conflicts it may bring to light, I do believe that its application, emerging as an urgent reminder and a call for personal investigation, has the potential to change the consciousness of a community through its emotive imagery and ability to passively navigate implication and consequence.