Local Artist

The rooster - sculpture at St Werburghs Written by Szabolcs Vass

I have recently moved to Bristol and at the moment I am staying at my friends’ house near Eastville Park. I am 28 years old now. I have finished a Printmaking bachelor in the Academy of Fine Arts Novi Sad (Serbia). After I have enrolled on an MA in graphic design which I have graduated from two weeks before moving to Bristol. Among other projects on digital platforms and ceramics I have done design projects for a few festivals in Vojvodina, and I also ran an art residency called Dombos Visual during an art and music festival in my hometown for the last 5 years. About the tyre sculpture: A good friend of mine who works at St Werburghs City Farm and looks after the community garden told me about the tyres that flout the environment in the park. We have known each other for more than 15 years and he has seen my work, knows my aesthetics and ideology so he got an idea that I could come up with a concept for a reproductional solution that would prevent him sending the tyres to landfill. I got inspired by the area after visiting the farm but even before that I was very excited about the potential to continue my art in a new city with a public art piece which can help me connect to the local community and art scene. After my initial two weeks quarantine and before the second lockdown I had only four days to explore the local art scene. That made me spend some time with my demons - unemployment, new environment, lockdown etc so I decided to heal myself with art from the side effects of covid. The Farm is very cautious with their space during these times but they offered me a remote covered outdoor area where I could work with Ricardo with access to electricity so I feel really lucky about having a welcoming place to work on my project. I met Ricardo last year when I was last in Bristol. When I saw the amount of tires I realized that I needed a spare pair of hands in building the armature, both physically and mentally. Also, I was aware that he is a sort of artist-handyman and he can help contribute with his own ideas in our collaboration.

The St.Werburghs City Farm celebrates its 40th birthday this year so because they supported me and offered me a space to exhibit my sculpture, I decided to make a variation of their cockerel logo. I called it a rooster as that was the word I originally knew before ever hearing about a cockerel.

I work with recycled materials, making art to raise awareness of the damage of waste on the

environment. Trash is a footprint of consumption, so it is available everywhere.Studying the environment and local art, I have got the idea that Bristolians are open-minded and understand about this issue but still not immune to it.

I have a bunch of ideas, and not all of them are street art. I also want to continue with ‘transhuman artefact”, my latest series,working with ceramic plates. And if I will find space I would like to continue researching the behavior of

expanding foam on my large scale canvases.