Order in Disorder

I have two labels  – Autism Spectrum Disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder to be precise. They are a bizarre contradiction in terms, as one of the features of the autistic mind is a need for precision and order. Often bordering on OCD, people on the autism spectrum tend to require the rigour of routine and structure to feel at one with the world. Throw an unexpected change of plan or method into the mix and all hell breaks loose. I am no exception. While I like surprises and I’m not technically OCD (I enjoy my obsessiveness rather than feel disturbed by it), I do require a certain order to my life. It provides me with a sense of security. I know I’m not in free fall when everything is going as planned. If something doesn’t occur when it is meant to, it takes me a while to adjust to the change. I have to carefully think it through and rationalise why it is not a disaster. My ADHD mind counterbalances with a desire for novelty, so this does not apply so much to my creative technique – more to my daily life. 

I don’t do much abstract work for that reason however. I like to construct a premise and work my way through to a resolution. An idea, a concept, a structure. That guides my creative juices. If you place me in front of a canvas and tell me to go crazy, I lock up in panic and don’t know where to turn. I need a subject, a theme, a direction. So, it is with great disciplined, lack of discipline that I have been exploring abstraction. This is one of my first. For once, instead of telling the concrete what I wanted, I let the concrete tell me. I discovered happy accidents and moved with the flow. I smashed old experiments and embedded them into the mix – just to see what would happen. I had no direction, no aim, no order. I simply did. This is what you see…

Sections of different coloured concrete experiments were fused together using concrete with mother of pearl inlays and glass bead. The result was ground and polished back before a series of layers of ink and enamel were painted on.

Original silky smooth concrete creation by Ilia Chidzey.

77cm x 83cm  |  8.2kg
Timber baton across back with wire string. No frame required.

Due to the limitations of photography and digital inaccuracy, some colours may appear slightly different in the original.