The Skinny Showcase: Theo Vass

Gallery by Lauren Strain | 05 Jun 2013

The Skinny Showcase: Theo Vass 

Theo Vass has just completed his BA in Fine Art at Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU). During his three years living, working and studying in the city, he has, he says, recognised an atmosphere of creative potential that derives from a place where hardship and communal support coexist – accordingly, many of his projects have interacted directly with his environment and its communities (see United vs Liverpool, below).

Vass describes himself as interested in and troubled by the process of making images and spaces that codify the sensory world. For his LJMU degree show exhibition, he has constructed an environment that presents a timeline of objects, comprising framed drawings, projection and film, which, he explains, are “systemised representations of ideas around space, going from enveloping sensation to detached spectacle.”

“Throughout my studies I’ve been involved with extra curricular collaborative art activities, often site specific. On the foundation course I made an installation with art student Liam Peacock in a derelict factory in Brantham, Essex. It involved organising scattered material into sculptural forms, stacked pallets and stretched found material. I was beginning my investigation into a response to spaces, through site specific installations and drawing: taking what I find, in its disorganised state, and exploring systems and codes to represent or reorganise material.

"I broadened the collaboration idea when I curated a project with six art students as a site specific response to Cairns Street in Liverpool in September 2012. This involved working with the few residents living there, responding to the abandoned buildings and setting up a community drawing workshop.

"I’m currently working on a collaborative project with artist Joseph Hulme, and looking to set up a studio in Liverpool.”

http://www.theovass.com