Kallum-Andrew Smeesters-Kirkwood
I am a Progressional Mixed media artist, who works with the practices of photography and film. I believe that a photo can speak a thousand words, and this has pushed me to experiment further within my practices.
In my opinion art is derived from the deepest parts of our subconscious and as artists we express ourselves through the process of making art. Although its language may be purely non-verbal it has the power to carry meaning. As a photographer I present my pieces as idiosyncratic extensions of myself and my mind as the “artist”. The camera as a tool to me is an extension of the artists eye. A creative tool for documenting the present in a split fragment of time, preserved for the future. As a photographer and filmmaker my pieces stand within post-conceptualism, where the concept and context involved within these works takes precedence over the traditional aesthetics and material concerns. But as an artist I work between the boundaries of surrealism and post-modernism.
Bio
AGE: 24
Location: Reading
Graduated: University of Reading 2022
Degree: BA (Hons) Fine Art
Email: kask.photographyandfilm@gmail.com
What being an artist means to me
I am an Enthusiastic and versatile person. As a artist I aspire to learn and overcome challenges with new and adaptive problem-solving methods and practices, allowing me to see where the outcome will lead to. Its a continuous exploration within my practices and personal aspirations. I never knew how much I strived for these aspects till I studied Fine art. My academics within art has provided me the knowledge and skills I possess to pursue a role that will change the environment of which I work in, I want to continue to pursue a role where I can keep learning new skills and apply them to my already learnt practices and skilled tools, whilst also conveying my own knowledge and skills to others and learning from each other, further progressing and pushing myself as an artist and individual.
My passion for art has accumulated over time from my GCSE in Design & Technology, which later became my A-levels within Graphic Design and Digital art where I first discovered photography through Film and DSLR, then further developing this practice within collage within a Foundation art in which I taught myself Fine art photography, and had the opportunity to exhibit alongside a group of young artists within the MAO (Modern Art Oxford). From all these aspects of art and education over these past eight years I have developed and applied within my chosen profession and practices as an artist.
With this identity as a “artist” I consider myself to work with progressional Mixed media art. These mixed medias being the process of working with the practices of photography and film. I see my pieces being rooted between contemporary surrealism and post-modernism, but each piece has the ability to experiment and be loose with incorporating other elements and contemporary forms. I am always enthusiastic to learn new skills or experiment with anything and experience the results be them good or bad, but always learning and always trying to teach myself and improve on what I already know. My current experimentation is with the process of developing and warping film in a chemical or elemental soup (Film Soup). Photography is my passion. Art is my passion.
What Next?
Project: Grimoire