Joe Andrew

Joe Andrew was born in Sheffield, and recently graduated from Leeds Arts University. It was there that he explored his ideas and intentions through materials and processes; journeying towards a deeper understanding of humanity and the eccentricities that make us who we are as people.  

When contemplating Vessel, the Artist began to explore the role that men play in their closest relationships. The artist came to see male privilege, and its detrimental effect on the male ego, as the root cause of countless men’s ability to dominate and control these relationships. This is something the creator wished to reflect in the piece, exploring the silver spoon of privilege and the way it manipulates these rapports to maintain its position of power.  

For many heteronormative families, the pandemic brought these issues to the forefront, as life was no longer obstructing our perceptions of privilege’s onslaught. This was made evident by the vast increase in divorces seen during lockdowns. The imbalance between masculinity’s privilege and femininity’s benevolence creates a scenario carried out irrespective of culture, where male privilege’s impervious position is allowed to endure – whilst putting tremendous strain on both the physical and metaphorical support seen in society and the sculpture.  

The Artist selected the two materials due to their innate connotations – where the cast iron spoon can be viewed as something not only silver in colour, but also as a dense immobile weight that reflects privilege’s immovability – whilst being incredibly brittle, perhaps denoting its inability to withstand change. The soft inviting Ash invokes a sense of growth, which attempts to override this sense of imbalance through the support afforded to the spoon; resultantly putting itself in a position of instability.  

Andrew has endlessly reflected on the creative rabbit hole that is imposter syndrome, and has found some solace in the escapism found whilst producing his sculptures. “Spoon was left undecided; I had not been able to comprehend how the form would work out. So I decided to let my hands dictate the direction of the shape and kept the mental idea of enhancing the phallic nature of the pattern.” 

The sculpture is the largest project the artist has taken on, consisting of 235 pieces of Ash, 726 measurements, 24 sash clamps, 1.2 Gallons of slow curing PVA, and 62 cuts and bruises; 9.2 metric tonnes of wood dust, 15 new skills, 874 convocations, 12.8 kilos of cast iron, 4 sleepless nights, 16 days spent horizontal, 1 trip to A&E.