No One in Particular #14 (series #1)

The No One – In Particular series takes its cue from the photographic ‘head shot’ and our constant encounters with (depictions of) anonymous individuals in print media and television, and the ways we ‘project’ into them.

They are composite images derived from general observation. Some source information might have come from magazines, photographs, or passing street encounters, but the characters largely evolved from imagination through the sculpting process. Each piece is identical in size and (neutral) in gesture. Each of the six sculpted images derives directly from the preceding one—one sculpture reworked six times. The triangular geometry between eyes and mouth remains identical (with the exception of the sixth sculpted version, variations 10, 11 and 12) reinforcing a sense of the undifferentiated. Individuation or difference is played out largely in the style and dress of hair and costume, eye colour and complexion. Gender can shift within variations derived from the same sculpt (i.e. variations 2 and 3).

As portraits of people that don’t exist, they are empty and without history, while simultaneously individualized. It is our expectations and projections onto them, the narratives and histories that complete them.

These works derive in idea from the photograph, and resolve in actuality in the photograph. Accompanying (same scale) photographs have been produced of these sculptures in order to highlight the idea.