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As a soliloquy might involve an actor thinking aloud or directly addressing
the audience (whilst still on stage), Toby Christian’s artwork gesticulates
back at itself, pretence is one of his starting points. Central to his practice
is the art of artifice. Christian likes the idea of a coat of paint, and can’t
help but see a rock as part of a bigger one.

The materials he employs range from joke shop props, to stuff one might
expect of art, such as wood, stone, or bronze. In an age where the copy
has lost its original, other preoccupations include the status of the handmade
and the artist as virtuoso. Unfortunately for Christian, the magical
transformative possibilities of art are never quite attainable.

Counter to those works that may or may not feign artistry and restraint,
Christian also likes to give the leash a bit of slack. Blobs, high gloss bulges,
in various sizes, imply the unlikely event of a material growing, expanding,
and inflating under, inside, or on top of an object or a space. Like sculptural
prepositions, these works address the problematic issue of making big
sculpture, without just cladding a surface, or making hollow lions
(see Trafalgar Square). Blobs might even be too big, but however they fit,
they present a mute, pristine, synthetic surface.

Finger

2008
Marble
2 x 7 x 2cm

Forge

2006
Modelled Plasticine
6 x 1 x 2cm

Point

2007
Painted Bronze
24 x 8 x 9cm

A Drawing of a Scribble

2007
Wax Crayon on Paper
27 x 21 cm

Ideas

2008
Painted plaster
11 x 4 x 13 cm

Orange

2009
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