What I do:

Artist

A little more about me:

I am interested in exploring the role of aesthetics as a vehicle for disclosing truth in a political context. I am also interested in emergence, how, in the words of the physicist P.W. Anderson, ‘more is different’ and all that could mean for an artist's practice.
I first trained as a draughtsman then as a photographer; my practice now extends into collaboration, writing, the creation of virtual spaces using software, design, publishing, performance and tattooing. I often assume the role of Fagot Koroviev (a nod to the Russian writer Mikhail Bulgakov’s demonic choir master) the Minister for Security of the fictitious nation of Botrovia. My influences include the satirical illustrator Heath Robinson, the hysterical realism of David Foster Wallis and the 19th century history painter Thomas Cole. In the future I hope to build virtual worlds we can really inhabit.

Location:

Cardiff

Projects I’m working on:

Skin of our Skin (you are my sugar-paper) ‘Easy Asylum’ Booth is a performance and installation in which the artist Ric Bower (in collaboration with Nástio Mosquito) posits a provocative vision for the fictitious nation of Botrovia’s asylum policies. The work is centred around Fagot Koroviev, the Botrovian Minister of Security’s proposal that refugee status in Botrovia is freely available to any gallery-going volunteer who is willing to sign over a portion of their skin for Koroviev to draw on, for seven minutes, with his tattoo gun. Koroviev (Bower) transforms the ephemeral, and swiftly-executed gesture, of a life-drawing warm-up exercise, into a permanent tattooed statement on the volunteer’s skin. The volunteer subject/asylum seeker will read from a script prepared by A. L. Moore, (Nástio Mosquito) Botrovia’s Leader, to camera, while they are being tattooed. The reading of the script by the volunteer subject/asylum seeker will be played back on the wall mounted screen and speakers.

Personal Website/CV:

http://ricbower.work

Twitter @username:

ricbower