MAX STEWART

Manifesting my Bi-polarity: ‘Head No. 1’
Process preparation from the series
‘The Sense of My Screaming Skin’
50cm x 50cm


The current body of my work depends on two things. Firstly, it is a continuation of a research project I worked on under Professor Keith Cummings, and secondly, it is the illustration of those findings within the boundaries of a practice-based PhD.

The original research project (2005-07) was funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and investigated the enigmatic practice of the French pâtes-de-verre artist Amalric Walter. It was designed to coincide with the first solo exhibition of Walter held two years ago at Broadfield House Glass Museum, Stourbridge, which allowed us to have unique access to a private collection of 161 pieces of Walter’s work. The success of the findings of our research - the unravelling of Walter’s unique methodology in terms of pates-de-verre technique and aesthetic - led me to want to build on the research and to continue the study into contemporary studio practice through my PhD undertaken at Edinburgh College of Art.

As part-and-parcel of placing my portfolio into contemporary art practice, I have been forced to look at where my imagery sits today in relation to modern art practice, and where its antecedence lies. Coming from a theatre trained background (Cambridge, Birmingham and the Slade) I have always been interested in the division between actor and audience: how the actor’s mask works as a device to emote and to manipulate feelings that only lie deep within the subconscious of the audience. As such, I have become interested in the space between what one sees and what one thinks one sees.

The piece on show here comes from the third part of a proposed exposition of my PhD research. It represents a moment in the mind of the Bi-polar sufferer when the inner nature of the condition violently congeals enough for an eruption to take place through the metaphorical membrane into the physical world. It is on the edge of what the artist can produce - a manifestation of a purely personal, internalised event formed from the imbalances of chemicals deep within the brain: a corporeal illustration of psychological matter, and one which is as difficult to grasp (for the artist as well as the viewer) as ash in vapour.

The head is made from 42% lead crystal (Gaffer Glass) and coloured solely with oxides and salts derived from the palette of Amalric Walter. The bulk of the colour is created from Silver Chloride and, with additions of Copper, Manganese, Potassium chromate and Cadmium sulphite has been directly incorporated into the crushed frit before being fired to around 840 degrees centigrade. Copper wire, steel, leather and rubber have also been used in the assemblage.

The technique employed in this piece is purely derived from Walter’s own, and directly follows the path laid out by the French pates-de-verre artists of the Art Nouveau who studied and worked at Sevres.

Biography pdf

Max Stewart filler