Andrew Lacon

Andrew Lacon

work from A Magnitude in Albion

“Andrew Lacon’s work studies social class; that relentless – but of course not exclusively – English concern. Originally from Dudley and a working class family, the artist has found himself studying from within, whilst seemingly railing against, a series of now predominantly middle class art schools during the last six years. First at the University of Plymouth, then at the Royal College of Art, Lacon has received the ideal training in photography: being taught by such influential characters as Jem Southam and Olivier Richon. His practice draws from personal experiences, a kind of critical reflection on his own inquisitiveness and seeming discomfort with the education he has received, and the places it has led him to – South Kensington for example, where the RCA is, for now, situated. The result of Lacon’s important enquiry is a body of work that asks the question: How can I operate within a discourse that is fundamentally bourgeois (the majority of the art world, at least as it appears to us), whilst retaining my identity and working class upbringing? Or to put the question in another form: In precisely what way does what I now produce as an artist, communicate itself with where I am from; my sense of place; my heritage; my class – and as the exhibition’s title alludes to, my nationality?” –Daniel Campbell Blight

via OUTPOST