Interview with Sculptor, Damian Vick

‘Eroded orb’ 3mm Corten Steel 900mm diameter. Wheelers Hill. Photograph by Damian Vick

K&Z: You originated in graphic design. What kind of work did you do? Do you feel that your experience in that area has influenced your work?
Damian: I spent most of my time as a graphic designer running a publication in the health sector. While I was able to be creative in this role, with complete creative control, the endeavour was never entirely fulfilling for me. Studying and working in Graphic design allowed me to gain and refine my understanding and appreciation of design principles and concepts, which I have been able to apply to my sculpture in a general sense, but I always felt limited working in two dimensions. I feel that I have responded to this by trying to focus heavily on form.
K&Z: Your work is reminiscent of artists from the 20th century Minimalist movement such as Sol LeWitt. Are you inspired by them? What is it that makes you create work in this manner?
Damian: To be honest, despite the fact that I studied art history through university it is only recently that I have really begun to really educate myself on 20th Century sculptors, and I feel that I am a long way from understanding the landscape of the art world. This ignorance has actually been quite intentional. While I have always been interested in art and the creative process, when I began making sculpture I purposefully limited the amount of artwork that I engaged with, as I wanted to focus on the thoughts and visions that occurred to me without risking having my ‘voice’ too heavily influenced by anyone else.

I have always felt that I have been searching for my own understanding of truth, beauty and identity and how they are altered as perceived from different perspectives. For me, art is essentially an output, an expression of ideas, or an outcome of analysis. My ideas come to me only when I feed my mind with information or experience. I see patterns, forms and often metaphors when I expose myself to concepts that resonate deeply with my understanding of the world. My prime source of inspiration does not come from art itself, but often from science, mathematics, biology and sociology. Gathering a deeper understanding of the behaviour of matter, time, space, and life often suggests patterns and forms that I feel underlie the fabric of our existence.

I feel that my investigation into these fields has led me to the very start of my life as an artist and now that I have given a couple of years to developing my craft as well as thinking heavily about the concepts and processes that are important to me, I am only starting to open myself up to the infinite nature of the artistic universe and am more able to take on influences without drowning out my own narrative.
 

‘Tree Privacy Screen’ Powdercoated aluminium, Acrylic film on glass. 3880mm(w) x 2150mm(h) x 300mm (d) Middle Park.
Photograph by Serra Oner

K&Z: Your works tend to be large, imposing pieces. Have you ever made small pieces? What response are you trying to affect with your works?
Damian:I have made a handful of smaller works but they have tended to be studies, maquettes or experiments that feed into larger works. As to the reasons I am driven to make larger works, I can’t entirely explain this. I feel that there is potential within larger pieces to interact in a dynamic way with the spaces that hold them, be it large rooms or exterior settings. They also impact the way the viewer needs to perceive them and interact with them.

Although it may seem obvious to the point of being glib, I enjoy the way that large objects demand attention as they can overpower the viewer and dominate their experience. As humans, I believe we have an underlying sense of superiority, be it over animals, the planet or each other. I like to provide situations where the viewer is imposed upon, dominated and overwhelmed by something as I feel it provides a place within ones mind to re-evaluate our own attribution of value.
K&Z: Some of your work is functional, such as the ‘screens’. They are absolutely beautiful and provide privacy for people’s houses as they are positioned across large windows, for instance. Conventionally, art does not tend to have a practical function. Do you think that this convention needs to be challenged or do you think that pieces like your screens should be viewed as ‘design’ rather than as ‘art’?
Damian: I don’t think I can speak with enough authority to define what art is or what art is not. Personally, I don’t label the screens I have built as art, not because I necessarily believe that art cannot be practical, but rather due to the nature of the process in which they have been developed. These installations are created in conjunction with a client who has the final call on its aesthetic and who often chooses the starting point for the development of the subject matter. It is these factors that make me think of these projects as sculptural problem solving or installation design. I choose to think of art in a more pure context; something that emerges as a consequence of conscious existence. I make sculptures because they occur to me, because I feel they are justified to exist outside of my mind and because I simply enjoy the act of creation.