Sebastian Thomas is based in
Reading. Thomas’s practice is concerned with how perceptions of reality are
mediated through language. The collages presented in MK Calling
combine lithographic, silkscreen and digitally printed paper with drawn and
painted elements. They are imagined landscapes based on Thomas’s interpretation
of scenes from Russell Hoban’s novel Riddley
Walker (1980) set in a post-nuclear Britain. They depict a parallel universe,
where fragmented components of past and future collide to form a strange new
reality. The images operate like maps of these barren landscapes, building
surreal narratives from the objects that float within them. The pictorial
planes are subjected to a form of structural disintegration as the
compositional elements repel each other, dispersing to the edge of the
paper.
While language facilitates us in describing the world, it can also potentially obscure our view, creating a blind spot at the centre of our collective vision. This is reflected in Thomas’s work materially through the appropriation and deconstruction of images from the sprawl of imagery surrounding us, as well as the elevation of cheap industrial materials and discarded objects.