Artist statement

I have been surrounded by collectors my whole life. My late father collected maritime antiques; our house still looks like a scuttled sailing ship. As a family we were made to stop at every antique/junk shop, dragged to auctions and demo yards, scrap merchants and for a time he owned his own antique shop. ‘Saleing’ on Saturday morning was the local garage sale.

Nothing was ever thrown away (we had a double garage that never had room for a car.) All this seemed insane to me… until I found myself having trouble throwing things away.

To me, collecting became a three dimensional diary: I remember where every piece comes from which is a constant reminder of where I have been. Now I have a shipping container next to the foundry just to store homeless artefacts. It is this cache that inspired my exhibition. More specifically the pieces I bought at auction.

Of all the places that I have encountered things, it was the auction house that I found most amusing, from the pieces on sale to the anthropological situation.  The atmosphere was always charged with competition. I enjoyed watching the barely contained poker faces as much if not more than the items going on the block.

The enamel kettles that feature in many of the pieces are the first things I ever collected. For me, the kettles were a nostalgic look at a less disposable age. In the show they represent all things collectible: the tangled kettle cords and switches represent the jostling and positioning on viewing day and auction day; the electrical components symbolise the charged atmosphere.

The other prominent feature is the Magpie. It acts a metaphor for us – the collectors. I turned the magpie into a tin toy because not only are they are collectible in themselves, they are also, like us, capable of being wound up.

With this as a background I have created my compositions. I have looked at the auction from a few different angles, some humorous some serious. There is the phone bid, the estate collection, the lemon which most collectors would have bought at least one of, and theft. Twice I have had my purchase, or item for sale stolen!

I also hope to be creating something collectible in my own right.

Jonathan Campbell
2006

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