Adam Arbeid
Adam has developed and refined his own processes, which he uses in conjunction with traditional disciplines.
He became captivated by imagery observed through various lenses. These range from the extraordinary images of the cosmic vistas captured by the Hubble telescope and the Cassini space probe, those honed in upon by satellites of our incredible world and the subterranean environments below and the imagery captured through microscopes.
Processes
The surfaces of many pieces within this body of work are created as a Florentine marble fresco. Layer by layer coats of a crushed marble composite are built up to create a veneer like marble surface before paint is introduced. Ancient minerals, aggregates, metal ore, pigments and other materials are incorporated before polishing. This technique dates back to the Minoan civilisation, the Roman Empire and the Italian Renaissance.
Running parallel to this process, he also became fascinated by the qualities and imagery unveiled through the quarrying, splitting and polishing of primative stones, minerals and fossils. Reinterpreting these materials, combining them with others and applying them within reassesses cut in to the surface of the painting and to the edge of the work, he creates a sparkling agate-like crust that, alongside with the lustrous surface, creates the illusion that the piece may have been sliced from a large fossil exposing surreal environments within.
Materials
He finds the experience of developing the use of original tactile substance exciting. Sourcing, crushing, sieving and grading the materials is time consuming, but this is part of utilising ancient physical ingredients in the creation of contemporary work incorporating a new expression of other worldly elements.
Through influencing natural movement - exploring time in motion and cause and effect - by encouraging the various combinations of material to run free, collide, recede, reform, and then choosing the moment at which to freeze their motion, he explores enigmatic expresions of 'otherworldly elements'.