Phillip Moore

I have been making sculptures for many years. Early efforts were reckless abstractions of steel and concrete in the home back yard. The activities were enthusiastically encouraged by my mother and, with the muted acquiescence of my father, they were invariably dug up and transported with each house move, a natural accretion process. It is perhaps regrettable that their diligence has ensured that some are still extant.  

The early works were essentially random expressions of youthful enthusiasm. However, later developments became more focused. A major influence over the past few years has been the 1960s art movement called Minimalism. The trend was reductionist, attempting to escape from ‘too much’ art, as exemplified by the huge, pigment-filled canvasses of Pollock, Morris Louis and Jules Olitski. Minimalist practitioners purposefully embraced the third dimension, pushing art to the edge of non-art: that bordering objective reality. This meant an uncompromising objectification of form, the fundamentals being pattern, hard edge and geometry. The also embraced the abundant productivity of postwar manufacturing industries. Ready-mades were ideal: huge quantities of identical things. European artists also utilised mass production, but generally followed different trajectories. Anthony Caro in Britain and Joseph Beuys in East Germany both used industrial materials, Caro, in particular, using scrap steel.    

I employ similar materials, but usually construct on a smaller scale for practical reasons. My recent work, particularly the 'Signal' series, has been the most engaging and exploratory. The works attempt to incorporate the schematic symbols used to describe objects and processes that were the currency of my working life as a biologist. My research interests focussed on the molecular interactions that activate signal transduction and and facilitate message transfer in cells. Steel abstractions have been generated from a well of ideas, drawing on imagined molecular and cellular interactions, that has yet to run dry.