Ensemble, Peter Zappa, 2022, forged stainless steel, 70 x 85 x 85 cm

‘Unfamiliar’: not having knowledge or experience of something. This series of works are not representational nor are they referential I use abstraction to focus the viewer’s attention on the sculpture itself and not what the sculpture may or may not represent, any reference to something else or the familiar is purely accidental.

The subject that has always underpinned my artistic practice is perception, it is the axiom behind all human endeavour. Perception is the way we process the data we receive from external space and then use it to navigate the world in which we live. Our perception is formed and habitually reinforced by the language and culture to which we are raised or exposed. Perception by necessity is driven by learned habits and our blind adherence to what is familiar.

I’ve created this body of work to expose and engage the viewer both visually and cognitively with something unfamiliar, something that has no known function nor purpose and yet exists as a tangible, coherent and plausible form. The exhibition challenges the viewer’s perception as the familiar visual ques they rely on to make sense of what they see have been removed. I have a formalist approach to sculpture; my interest is in spatial organisation and the elements that make up the composition.