The Tide of Society is an exhibition of works central to the battle to retain a sense of true self amidst the mental bombardment from mass persuasion and systematically imposed duties. Trying to swim upstream is the only option for one who is subjected to this, if they wish to retain a true sense of self.

The majority of ideas in the show have been prompted by an unavoidable (due to position) 9-5 working life undertaken by the artist.  The looming domestications, brought on by these duties and expectations, team up with the (already present) pressures of living in a consumer society. The artist explores his subjection to both ends of Capitalism: pushed into a job to become a wage slave, and pushed into the shopping aisles to become a participative consumer (“amusement under late capitalism is the prolongation of work” – taken from Socialist Standard, June 2010). Work and leisure time, alike, are confronted with the fact that “it’s much easier if you don’t think about these things too much” and so comes the lure to consent and conform to all that seems to be being suggested to you.

The ultimate compulsion within the artist’s work is to link every issue tackled to an ultimate concern: that of our predicament upon this planet in the 21st century:

“This fear has always engulfed and incorporated all other fears. We are pressured to increasingly consume more on a planet of drying-up resources; pressured into seeing that continuous growth is “the only way” on a planet which cannot afford our species much more growth; and then we are pressured to live our lives through digital devices, prompting ever-more isolation, hence more need to satiate ourselves via consumer outlets, whilst also becoming more separated from the ‘terra firma’ on which we depend.”

This exhibition is mesh of global, social, and personal concerns, as we leave the first decade of the 21st century behind us.

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