It has become easy to forget – or even disregard – the human processes that informed many of the
world’s most formidable architectural structures. With the reign of mechanical replication, a shift
into 3D printing, and the impending revolution that will likely see artificial intelligence absorb
the diminishing contribution human beings still make to such structures, can you imagine a
world constructed by hand today?
Tom Freeman’s latest solo exhibition, ‘Brick’ appears to be asking that very question.
Presenting the viewer with 16 works of sculpture, made up of augmented found materials –
most predominantly, bricks – Freeman looks to investigate, and celebrate, the forgotten art of
handmade brickmaking. A craft, which up until the turn of the 19th century, and the industrial
revolution that followed shortly after, formed the structures, which are likely to outlive us all.
Through an insouciant use of repetition, text, and earthly additives, the show gently prods at the
roles of craft, trade and tradition in modern history, and whether we might have reached a stage
where they are no longer compatible with modern living.
Tom Freeman
Brick
John Buckley
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