Steven Clayden talk St.Ives July 2019

Steven Clayden talk at Porthmeor studios St.Ives. Cornwall, UK July 25th 2019

Steven Clayden drawn by Mary Fletcher

Steven Clayden, born 1969,  has exhibited widely. He has now moved to St. Just near St.Ives where he has been a resident at the famous Porthmeor Studios, which have allowed artists to enjoy space and time for work since the nineteenth century.

We saw slides of some work, which used a variety of materials, e.g. money in one penny pieces , gold plated camera lense shapes, resin painted to ressemble wood and squid ink.

He used a lot of highfalluting expressions such as ‘the onion skin of materiality’ and ‘an efficacy that extends beyond their materiality’, ‘poetic unknowability’ and ‘the work authors itself wth me as an assistant to it’.

He seemed to know much about many subjects, speaking in a slightly manic way, cutting a Beuysian figure without the clarity on politics. He cultivates ambiguity.

He made it seem as if his work is rather mysterious, compelling and highly significant as he proceeded with what he called a ‘conversation’ although it was a monologue.

Two of the audience had been impressed by his shows but it was impossible to grasp their content at this distance.

After 45 minutes I had had enough and luckily he finished then, battering us into a dazed state of puzzlement and making me wonder if those who, like him, speak of authenticity have the least of it.