tom hackett, the silicone boys, sculptural installation

   


tom hackett sculpture

the silicone boys

 20 coloured translucent silicone repeat cast busts of several children modelled in a naturalistic manner sited at 20-21 visual arts centre. the characteristics of the faces are redolent of an illustration from an ‘old school’ children’s novel and present an idealized archetype. in essence the idea of a child rather than the actuality. the duplication of the same heads time after time eliminates the potential reading of the forms as portrait and encodes them as iconic imagery.


the work explores the problematics of colour and sentimentality in sculpture and the binary opositions of the hand crafted within a manufactured aesthetic.the project has toured to skegness beach as part of black/north seas, Brighton Festival, Moustiers in France, South Hill Park, RED Gallery and other venues.


curated by dominic mason.

   guardian exhibition guide