'I want to elevate the mundanity of glass and the consumables of the still life to becoming everlasting, crystallised and vitrified as if they have been caught by a volcano'
Elliot Walker
We are delighted to present Elliot Walker's inaugural solo show with Messums. Plenty is an irreverent look at our culture of excess, a new series of sculpture inspired by Dutch 17th Century Vanitas paintings.
Employing almost every conceivable technique in making his glass sculptures, Walker transforms classic objects in still life paintings – goblet, bottle, apple, pear, fish, lobster – into ethereal, sculptural cameos that speak both of our bounty and also its impermanence.
Walker's remarkable technical skills use complex and subtle colouring along with cold processes like cutting and polishing, surface decoration and texturing, to add depth and dazzling intricacies to his forms. Elliot is an exciting and talented artist bringing a conceptual edge to a traditional craft with all the hallmarks of a mould breaker.
We have been watching the seam between craft and art break over the years and Elliot's work irreverently celebrates glass working whilst engaging with our contemporary concerns and pleasures.