Work by Steven Claydon acquired for the Southampton City Art Gallery to compliment a strong and growing nucleus of fine contemporary works

The Contemporary Art Society has acquired Trespasses and Dust (2010) by Steven Claydon (b. 1969) for the Southampton City Art Gallery, with the support of an anonymous donor. The artist says of the work: ‘to put it simply, it’s to do with the way memories manifest themselves and the way they mutate and sometimes crassly impose themselves into the “now”.’

Claydon reinterprets the objects, images and texts through which ‘cultural baggage’ has been communicated and rewrites history as a series of ‘what ifs’. His fusion of old and new is mysterious and tantalising, jumbling the usual categorising of high and low culture. His pieces contain clues, symbols, images and texts from familiar sources that combine to create confusion and disruption.

This example of Claydon’s work will perfectly compliment a strong and growing nucleus of fine contemporary works. Claydon was not previously represented at the institution and the piece is an exciting contribution to the gallery’s collection.

Steven Claydon (b.1969) trained as a painter and currently works with sculpture, installation, painting, drawing, film and performance. Claydon was shortlisted for the Hepworth Prize for Sculpture 2016 and has had exhibited widely both nationally and internationally, with major solo exhibitions at Sadie Coles HQ, London (2016),  Bergen Kunsthall (2015), Firstsite, Colchester (2012) and Haus der Kunst, Munich (2010).