James Moffett (Member)
Having been in business for many years with varying degrees of success I enrolled at DerbyUniversity in 2004 to escape from the hotel I own in the Peak District.
My work at Derby was mainly inspired by the environment. I was well aware of the effects of climate change: where I live used to have snow on the ground for two or three months every winter but for the last ten years there has been no need to clear the drive; on mountain treks in the Alps I have seen how far glaciers have receded.
Early pieces were polythene inflatables, inflated by exhaust gas from the car. For obvious reasons these were not suitable for gallery display.
Recently I have been making steel framed inflatable latex sculptures, Two sheets of latex are clamped between steel frames. There is a synergy between these two materials. The steel frames control the shape of the latex while allowing unfettered orthogonal expansion, and without them the seams of the latex would unpeel.
Alfred Jarry's absurd but menacing character 'Ubu Roi' inspired a series of twelve humanoid sculptures. Here I saw the framework as the state, the latex as the population.
In my work I seek to portray the balance between growth and control which is essential in maintaining successful ecological systems, societies and relationships - all of which have much in common.