Luke Routledge
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Interview by Melanie Pocock
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Published in October 2024
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Can you begin by talking a little about your practice?
I primarily create multi-coloured, slightly absurd figurative sculptures of imagined beings. These sculptures vary in size, from roughly human scale to smaller, more diminutive characters, which I envision as companions to the larger works. I then assemble these pieces into large installations, incorporating more banal, utilitarian objects to suggest the culture, time, and space in which these creations might exist.
Through these installations, I aim to offer the viewer a glimpse into an otherworldly narrative, a fragment of a story they can build upon and expand within their own imagination, much like an open door inviting exploration.
What are some of the key influences or themes in your work?
The themes and influences behind my work tend to shift with each new group of figures I create. Rather than focusing on a single subject, I draw inspiration from films, fiction, art history, science, and philosophy, amassing different threads from these sources into a kind of idea assemblage. This approach is what led me to develop an expansive setting for my sculptures, giving me the freedom to push and pull the work in various directions. I’ve previously described this as a "living collage territory."
With each installation, I’m building an overarching constructed universe—or multiverse—where all of my creations can coexist. The figures and objects serve as a scaffold for exploring various areas of interest, whether through formal investigation or research, providing a foundation I can continue to build upon in the studio.
My first solo show, Strange Matter, emerged from this approach. At the time, I was particularly interested in simulation theory, Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, and the multiverse hypothesis. All of these concepts explore the nature of reality;through the works, I was looking to present another potential reality or possible world.
What initially drew you to creating art? Was there a particular artist that first inspired you?
I’ve always enjoyed drawing and making things, but it was going to college that made me really find the passion for it. I got really into Hockney and The School of London so I was drawing every day, and at that time I thought I would end up as a painter. I recently found a folder of old paintings in my studio, and they were all my attempts to mimic Picasso, Kitaj, Cecily Brown, Luc Tuymans, and loads of others.
The first task we were set at university was about the found object and that pulled me away from canvases and set me down the path I’m on now. When I started making sculptures the surfaces of the works then became the support for me to explore these painterly influences. I’d say that my sculptures are an attempt to make my own contemporary version of allegorical or historical paintings in three-dimensional space.
How has your dream-like aesthetic evolved over time?
The aesthetic of my work really came into its own a few years before I made my first solo show. I’d been trying to find the right materials to convey this painterly approach I've mentioned and then began making my own air-dry clay materials. This allows me to mix colours into the material and apply it in an additive way like you would on a canvas. The main material I use is similar to jesmonite but takes longer to dry, so I'll leave sections to set and then start again the next time I’m in the studio with a different coloured mix.
With the first group of works, I began by making some relatively recognisable, proto human-type figures. I then wanted to make something more unfamiliar and weird and so began adding uncanny, surreal forms to the figures. Bringing these distinct-looking characters together in installations then raised questions around who these figures were and what their purpose was and that prompted me to begin writing short stories to accompany the works. This process helped me flesh out their existence and then feed back into the sculptural installations and vice versa.
You primarily create large, lifelike sculptures for your works. What particularly draws you to this medium?
I think at the core of it it's a desire to make things that no one has seen before and then having a tension between the familiar and unfamiliar. The thing I enjoy the most is being able to imagine something, then going through a process to end up with a physical object.
In terms of the scale, there’s something immediately arresting about making any kind of object that relates to the scale of our bodies and populates a space. When the works are presented it's amazing to see how they take up space in a room and then view them in relation to people, architecture and other people's artworks.
What is the importance of making your human-scale sculptures reconfigurable?
The reconfigurable nature of the work came about as an idea when I was living in London. This was the first time I had a studio, and I was trying to work out the logistics of getting a human-sized sculpture to a gallery.
It made sense to just make the works in sections that could be easily transported and assembled on site. Once I began doing this, they became like building blocks for the sculptures, with different options and elements that could be swapped out, kind of like an exquisite corpse. This practice has just become built into the way I work so that creating the sculptures is like assembling a collage, treating my own components as found objects.
What are some of the inspirations for the “speculative, fictional multiverse” you make?
One person and their way of working that I often return to is William S. Burroughs and his cut-up technique. This idea of splicing and collaging materials to result in a new whole has helped me to build up the way that I work.
It all started with these ideas of another possible world and now I'm at the point where anything and everything can feed into the framework that I've created. When I’m reading or watching anything I'll be making notes of things I find interesting. I’ll then be thinking about how they can be transformed to emerge into the world of my sculptures in one form or another.
The one thing that has stuck with me that a tutor said about art is that “It can be anything you want it to be.”
Your installation for Friends in Love and War – L’Éloge des meilleur·es ennemi·es tours from Lyon to Birmingham for Ikon’s presentation; does the changing context impact the work?
The change in context will undoubtedly have an impact on the way the work looks and feels. I got such good feedback about the work when it was presented in Lyon, so I'm really interested to see how it is received in Birmingham. Thinking about Birmingham in relation to the constructed universe of my practice, I'm really proud to be showing the works at Ikon and in such close proximity to areas and landmarks that inspired the work of J.R.R. Tolkien.
Lastly, what are your own thoughts on how your installation for the exhibition, Strangelets (2024), approaches ideas of friendship and camaraderie?
When I'm making my installations there’s often a relationship that develops between the works in a compositional sense.As I bring them together a narrative will emerge to hold them together in some way.
As I mentioned, I've got in the habit of writing short passages to accompany the installations and this is the one for Strangelets:
They had been travelling for what seemed like an age, weighed down by both their luggage and the endless, presently fruitless search. The giant pink toads they rode upon were basking at the edge of a glistening pool after reviving themselves in the cool water.
The haruspex began to play a delicate song upon the bleached wooden lute he carried with him. The enchanting notes caused the milk toads to stir, their colossal bodies shifting in response to the vibrations. Harmonising with the tune, they emitted a low, soporific trilling.
Drawn in by the dance of musical notes, the various creatures of the party abandoned their tasks to gather and watch the bard perform. Whilst they watched and listened joyfully, amorphous artefacts of light appeared in the air, casting a soft glow upon the onlookers beneath.
As the song gracefully reached its conclusion, the dancing lights intensified, darting as moths to a flame and converging upon a single point. The troubadour, closing his ballad, sang, 'The lizard queen, who once was seen roaming ‘top the moors, has carried off the villagers. The end, sincerely yours.'
With these final words, a door appeared in mid-air, like a curtain of flesh being pulled open. The haruspex swiftly rose with excitement and motioned for the group to follow him.
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Friends in Love and War — L’Éloge des meilleur·es ennemi·es is presented at Ikon Gallery in collaboration with macLYON, 2 October 2024 – 23 February 2025. ikon-gallery.org
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︎ @lukeroutledge
lukeroutledge.com
︎ @ikongallery
ikon-gallery.org
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If you like this why not read our interview with Tayler Fisher.
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