@penniehaynes

www.penniehaynes.com

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"The main theme I address in my work is the uncanny, I take the familiarity of objects and forms and change them to provoke the uncomfortable feeling of the unknown within such everyday objects.  I’ve currently been using materials that resemble human skin by using liquid latex, silicone rubber and pigments but I have also used organic materials, for example, raw meat and human hair, to purposefully impact the viewer. I try to stay away from creating “horror” like pieces of work. I don’t want to create a generic gore film prop; I want to manipulate human qualities by distorting the form, purpose or visual and textual properties of materials. For example, inflating the “skin” that surrounds the skull to create a disturbing strain on the form of the facial features. I want to make the familiar unfamiliar.

When I discover a material I push it as far as it can go, I want to experiment with all the different outcomes and possibilities this material may inhabit. I do this by combining it with other mediums, seeing how it reacts to different types of treatment and manipulation and question every time I do this how will it change the viewer’s experience.

I want my work to be three dimensional so it holds a presence in the room just like the bodies who are viewing it. I want the audience to walk around my work, interact with the work and see its relation to the other bodies around it. Like how it differs from a “typical” body next to it. I think this also allows the mind to imagine if my work was alive and how it would function and interact with people. I like my work being on the floor or without the use of plinths or stands, I want the work to organically sit or lay or even drape from the ceiling. In recent work, I’ve been using furniture as my “plinth” and overall I don’t want my work to have a hierarchy against the viewer, I believe this creates a suspense to the work"