CALCULATED RISK

An Installation of 12 works

Mixed media - acrylic - collage and metallic copper leaf

Calculated Risk is a mixed-media installation comprising twelve individual works. Acrylic paint, fragments of old ledgers, numbers and collage elements are built up in layered, textured surfaces, combined with metallic copper leaf. The physicality of these materials creates a tension between structure and spontaneity.

Blue hues, striking orange and vivid pink move through the works, bringing energy, contrast and a sense of unpredictability to the ordered language of the ledger.

Against the measured world of numbers and accounts, colour becomes expressive and instinctive.

The copper leaf catches and reflects the light shifting as the viewer moves around the installation. What begins with calculation, measurement and certainty becomes something more intuitive, physical and uncertain.

The collection is also rooted in my own experience of time

We spend our lives trying to balance the books. We count hours, we count pennies, we count the days. These pieces began their lives as ledger papers - the ultimate symbols of logic, order and the safe bet.

But my own life doesn’t always fit neatly into the numbers. I work as a live-in carer, providing 24 hr care for 3 weeks at a time followed by 1 week away from work. My art practice exists alongside this demanding working life, and the limited, precious time I have to create has become an important part of my artistic process