Steven Claydon
Steven Claydon (b. 1969, London) graduated with a BA in Fine Art from Chelsea School of Art & Design (1991) and an MA from Central Saint Martins School of Art and Design (1997) (both London).
Claydon’s work explores the cultural histories and narratives acquired by objects and artworks over time, which is often at dramatic odds with their ‘original’ values or functions. Encompassing sculpture, painting, video and performance, his art is concerned with the disjunction between the essential materiality of objects and their ascribed meanings or connotations.
By introducing new references, juxtapositions, and ideas to objects or environments heavy with their own architectural and cultural histories, Claydon’s works function beyond their immediate aestheticism to interrogate notions of belonging and of displacement, and of temporality and permanence.
5) SECRETS OF RUSSIA at KIASMA (Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki) 2012.
A collaboration with traditional Russian manufacturers. In 2011 Aamu Song and Johan Olin set on a journey to explore Russian manufacturing secrets. The travels, which took us from Moscow to Urals, into Siberia and to the Caucasus, resulted in collaboration with more than ten of traditional manufacturers. The collection was first shown at KIASMA Museum of Contemporary Art in Finland in 2012. All designs: COMPANY (Aamu Song & Johan Olin)