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‘Building & Destroying’
Rocket Launcher.
2020
concrete, ceramic, steel, glass, plastic, water
Building and Destroying.
2020
concrete, steel, ceramic, plastic, dirt
Building and destroying, we do this through the constant construction and destruction of our built environments. We demolish what is deemed not fit for our cities only to extract more from our Earth to create larger structures in its place.
When I see a demolition site I feel pathos for the materials that lay to rest. Seeing dissected, broken and exposed materials provides a transparency to the gross waste of the construction industry.
Knowing that the action of building our cities is slowly destroying our planet gives me a guttural feeling of angst, pain, and sadness. I cannot help but see a relationship between a damaged body and a damaged Earth.
It is at these construction sites, that I have been inspired to use building materials in a way to depict and reveal a more grotesque and truthful representation of the way I see materials used in our built environment.
By creating anthropomorphic sculptural forms using poured concrete, hand built ceramic, industrial steel, plastic and other found materials; I strive to elicit a human empathetic response and understanding of materiality through sensate corporeal structures.
Luke Armitstead
is a sculptor working primarily in ceramics, concrete and metal. Creating work with both design and improvisation, his works contain a sense of urgency and intuitive form, however are often created in response to concepts and ideas revolving around the built environment, abstraction, politics, living systems, and the body.
In 2011 Luke received a BFA from the School of The Art Institute of Chicago. There he developed a multidisciplinary approach to art making, focusing primarily on ceramics, painting, architecture, public art, and design. In 2013, he continued to develop his interests in sculpture and ceramics while attending a two-year Post Baccalaureate program at University of Wisconsin, Madison. In 2015, he started a two-year long ceramics residency at Pottery Northwest in Seattle. Luke received his Masters of Fine Art with the 3D4M Sculpture program at the University of Washington in 2020.
Luke has been shown in a number of Galleries through out Chicago, New York City, London, Seattle, and the Midwest.