Each new piece in the "Magic Circle" series is unique; the same motifs are used but the composition is different every time. We find this aesthetic of repetition and variation wherever we look in nature, although shapes and patterns are repeated there is always a nuance of difference resulting in incredible visual diversity. Think of something as simple as a leaf and then of all the different shapes, textures, colours and sizes of leaves that exist. I'm constantly expanding and embellishing the range of motifs that I use, my only limitation is that each motif, although resembling somthing found in nature, must not simply copy or imitate it, each motif has to be a blend of observed reality and pure imagination. The reason for this is that by soliciting recognition and then withholding it I create a moment of rupture, of visual tension that forces the viewer to pause and become conscious of the act of looking. For me this moment of self-consciousness, of demanding "what am I looking at?", is an essential aspect of the aesthetic experience, a moment of waking up and breaking out of habitual ways of seeing.
Here in Magic Circle 5 I have framed the sculpture under a transparent plastic dome making visual reference on the one hand to the petri dish and laboratory equipment and on the other to the outer membrane in the structure of a cell.