Neath is a lone artist riding his horse through the wilderness of the myth of conquest; the Western. Strolling into empty spaces where he finds clichés to explore, building cardboard and balsa model miniature towns, devoid of life, ever changing in form as the models disintegrate, new ones taking their place acting as film sets to be photographed and filmed.
Wandering off his path into other world constructed by film, struck by the ideas and imagery that he finds within them. Exploring the high angles of Brief Encounter (1945) dir. Lean to the single beds in Mrs Miniver (1942) dir. Wyler. Nodding his hat in the direction of artists such the Thomas Demand and Slinkachu, the empty spaces and unseen worlds are the themes they share.
When the boots are off he investigates the fabric and conventions of film, what makes it tick, pulling it apart by manipulating video and digital image. With the notion of handmade at centre of his practice he’s work is never far away from his low-fi finger prints.
Professor Neil Campbell of American Studies at the University of Derby explains that the decline of the genre came about with an increasingly sophisticated audience wanting more than a hero coming into town and gunning down the villains to only leave at the end. Films of the time were competing with real images of the Vietnam War and of the Civil Rights movement.
He will always look and ride on in the search of what the Myth of conquest is about, its form and language from its rise through to the golden age and decline before being reborn in its various forms. Looking on with a sense of wonder and yearning to understand what makes it so rich and masculine for the artist who plays cardboard
Projects
- Working from Home (2021)Working from Home (2021) is made in response to the first Lockdown of the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic. Being forced to move my studio home to continue working. I was able to complete my previous work Cowboys Invaded (2020) during this time before moving onto this piece. Inspired by a brief behind the scenes shot from the end credits of A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood (2019) dir. Marielle Heller, that I connected to the constructed apartment block that features in Rear Window (1954) dir. Alfred H
- Cowboys Invaded (2020)Inspired by the film and comic book “Cowboys & Aliens” Cowboys Invaded (2020) explores an alternative outcome of the invasion that leads to an alien occupation of the Wild West. Using non-pc Cowboy and Indian figures in an expanded world constructed using recycled cardboard and other craft materials. Placing the White settlers and Native Americans alike into an Alien occupation that they either become collaborators or resistance members fighting against the unwanted, more powerful race. The conc
- Painting the Town... (2018)Painting the Town explores the origin of the phrase “Painting the Town Red” which has historical roots in the town of Melton Mowbray, one night in 1837, the Marquis of Waterford and his men whilst drunk caused mayhem throughout the town, with a few of the men literally taking brushes with red paint to part of the town. Also inspired by the ending of High Plains Drifter (1973) dir. Clint Eastwood, which sees a violent ghostly figure played by Clint Eastwood manipulate a town into doing his biddin
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Work history
Contemporary Artist
Freelance
Un[dis]criminate – The Unstitute, (on going)
Online archive
Contemporary Artist
31 Rutland St, Leicester LE1 1RE, UKFreelance
Exhibition at Pedestrian Gallery - P is for (16-28/3/2012)
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Skills
- Excel
- Final Cut Pro
- Office
- Photoshop
- 3D Moddeling
- 3D Sculpting
- Video
- Photography
Education
Fine Art
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Bachelors Degree