Harrison Pearce
Scan the code to watch Harrison Pearce’s Defence Cascade video installation.
A kinetic exploration of human existence
By Krisztian Gabor Torok
K
risztian sat down with London-based artist Harrison Pearce (b. 1986), to talk about his artistic practice. In this interview, Harrison takes us on a journey, explaining the concepts that underpin his works, which merge science, philosophy, and his own personal experiences. Pearce’s abstract kinetic sculptures address human experiences within the context of new technologies and post-digital cultures. Referencing Brancusi’s formal perfectionism and Giacometti’s enigmatic surrealism, Pearce’s structures are manifestations of ideas rooted in the medical sciences and analytical philosophy. By employing industrial techniques to create his silicon cage-like structures, Pearce’s installations simultaneously echo bodily behaviour and mechanical functions. With a background in philosophy and engineering, Pearce graduated with an MA in Fine Art at City and Guilds of London Art School. Having previously exhibited works at the Dulwich Picture Gallery (in 2017), Pearce was awarded the Young Contemporary Talent Prize (2017), the Royal Society of Sculptors Bursary Award (2017/18), and the City and Guilds of London Art School Prize for Outstanding MA Show (2016). In 2018 Pearce’s works have been on show at the Thames-Side Studios Gallery as part of the ‘New Relics’ exhibition, as well as The Marvellous Mechanical Museum at Compton Verney, Warwickshire, and the Young Contemporary Talent from The Ingram Collection at The Lightbox Museum, Woking. Pearce’s installations will be featured in the forthcoming ‘100 Sculptors of Tomorrow’ book (Thames and Hudson) and in the Royal Society of Sculptors Bursary Award Show at The Royal Society of Sculptors, London.
Right: Harrison Pearce, Defence Cascade. Courtesy of Harrison Pearce, photo by Jamie Woodley.
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