September 2007
Daniel Eatock
Stefan Segmeister and I have something in common. We are both huge fans of Daniel Eatock's work. Proof of his influence can be seen in the way we have designed the homepage of this site to the way we have thought about our photographs. Eatock's work is not driven by visual imagery but by ideas. For this reason, Eatock does not consider himself a photographer. He uses the medium to simply communicate and record his ideas. Sometimes these ideas take the form of photographs. Other times they are expressed through postcards, videos, posters, sculptures etc. the concept informs the aesthetic. Together the projects on his website feel like a gigantic brainstorming process. Eatock provides you with his ideas so you can build upon them or create ones of your own. What better gift could there be.
The creativity you show in your work seems so effortless and simply woven into your everyday routine. I get a sense that art, design and photography is deeply ingrained in who you are. How did it become this way? Were you always like this? Did art school or a chance meeting set you on this creative path? Do you come from a creative family?
At primary school I was the best at drawing. The head teacher called me Little Picasso, I won all the drawing competitions and spent all my time making pictures. At high school, I was second best. Daniel Forster was way better. He could draw intuitively, I remember watching him make a drawing from a plaster cast replica of Michael Angelo's David and later during a holiday we took together in the south of France, him making amazing pen drawings on the beach.
I am competitive and knew I could not compete with Dan's drawing ability, I understood that to be happy, I had to invent a creative way around the problem of making things look beautiful. Whilst Dan was drawing perfect renderings of the beach, I drew two straight lines across the page dividing it into thirds; I wrote sky in the top third, sea in the second and sand in the bottom third. I realised in that instance the craft and skill of drawing can be overcome with an idea.
This simple realisation has changed the way I approached almost everything I make. If something does not come naturally I would search out an alternative way to respond to the problem.
At 18 I discovered a book called Six Years, The Dematerialization of the Art Object by Lucy Lippard, this book reconfirmed that a concept can be equally as beautiful as its aesthetics. I was so excited to read and learn that I read it too quickly, not fully appreciating its content. I had to re-read it.
This book made me realize that art and design where no longer disciplines that where motivated purely by aesthetics. I wanted to relate these ideas of dematerialization to my wider practice, exploring objectivity, systems; concepts etc. and remove as many aesthetic decisions as possible. Can photography be dematerialised, or can the aesthetic be informed by a concept?
In your experience is it harder to sell a concept to a client then it is to sell them a style or a look?
I find it easier to present concepts than style. I have nothing to say about style, but concepts are language based and can be discussed. I believe that good concepts can be summarised in just a few words, the concept then informs the aesthetic.
It is unusual to see an artist show work done 10 years ago along side new projects. Most artists we know would cringe thinking about old projects. Your work has aged really well because it's driven by ideas. How has the process you use to come up with your ideas changed over the years?
I have always been interested in progression. I find the early work of artist, musicians etc. very important. I believe you make the best work early on, and if you're lucky you continue to make good work. But the beginning is when ideas, approach etc. get defined. I always thought Nirvana's Bleach was way better than Nevermind.
I admire how generous you are with your thoughts and ideas. Have you ever found anyone stealing your ideas?
By sharing things and being open, showing works on the web, in books, galleries, magazines etc. I hope people would be less likely to steal ideas, as the work is public. I'm not sure if this works. Some ideas and works have been used; sometimes I think it was just coincidence. The Neckclasp has been made by two other people, but I believe that the simple idea of joining clasps together to form a necklace could have been made independently by more than one person. It's better to trust and share than be protective and paranoid. The reason for making things is to show them. The work would not exist without an audience.
How do you judge the success of your work?
I like works that have an economy of material and aesthetics, that feel circular or whole, that seem like they have always existed, effortless and deceptively simple, works that give the viewer a discovery and/or an inner smile.
One of the points on your I-List project states "I would like to make a living making self-initiated art projects that use design production techniques". Do you take different approaches when you do art and when you do your designs?
Commissioned projects usually have an objective that is outside my own, this is the compromise. My aim is to reduce the difference. In reality, projects I initiate that don't have a commissioner's objective are more enjoyable, as I feel I can go off at tangents and respond more intuitively.
What is Daniel Forster up to now?
Daniel Forster is still a close friend working as a graphic design in Leeds.