‘Pen Tests’ explores the ‘accidental’ art of testing a pen in a stationery shop. A pen test is an anonymous scribble on a piece of paper to test the quality, style, and colour of a pen. These anonymous scribbles are by-products of commerce -unfiltered, messy, and destined for the bin. Yet, I am captivated by their honesty. By translating these fleeting marks into the intentional permanence of tattooing, I explore the tension between the disposable and the permanent.
A pen test is the truest form of expression because it is created without an audience. Devoid of ego, these marks represent a direct, subconscious connection between creator and page -an unguarded moment of play and authenticity. Whether they are stray shopping lists or simple scribbles, they offer a "stolen intimacy" with strangers I will never meet.
Tattooing a "pen test" -the ultimate symbol of the temporary- onto the body -the ultimate symbol of the permanent -challenges the ego of the contemporary art scene and elevates discarded "rubbish" to a place of ultimate value.
This work is a provocation: Is it theft to claim what has been discarded? It suggests that nothing is truly original and art is cultural regeneration. By giving "meaningless" trash a new narrative, I celebrate the childlike state of pure play. These marks remain, simultaneously, a piece of rubbish and a work of art.
‘Pen Tests’ explores the ‘accidental’ art of testing a pen in a stationery shop. A pen test is an anonymous scribble on a piece of paper to test the quality, style, and colour of a pen. These anonymous scribbles are by-products of commerce -unfiltered, messy, and destined for the bin. Yet, I am captivated by their honesty. By translating these fleeting marks into the intentional permanence of tattooing, I explore the tension between the disposable and the permanent.
A pen test is the truest form of expression because it is created without an audience. Devoid of ego, these marks represent a direct, subconscious connection between creator and page -an unguarded moment of play and authenticity. Whether they are stray shopping lists or simple scribbles, they offer a "stolen intimacy" with strangers I will never meet.
Tattooing a "pen test" -the ultimate symbol of the temporary- onto the body -the ultimate symbol of the permanent -challenges the ego of the contemporary art scene and elevates discarded "rubbish" to a place of ultimate value.
This work is a provocation: Is it theft to claim what has been discarded? It suggests that nothing is truly original and art is cultural regeneration. By giving "meaningless" trash a new narrative, I celebrate the childlike state of pure play. These marks remain, simultaneously, a piece of rubbish and a work of art.
‘Pen Tests’ explores the ‘accidental’ art of testing a pen in a stationery shop. A pen test is an anonymous scribble on a piece of paper to test the quality, style, and colour of a pen. These anonymous scribbles are by-products of commerce -unfiltered, messy, and destined for the bin. Yet, I am captivated by their honesty. By translating these fleeting marks into the intentional permanence of tattooing, I explore the tension between the disposable and the permanent.
A pen test is the truest form of expression because it is created without an audience. Devoid of ego, these marks represent a direct, subconscious connection between creator and page -an unguarded moment of play and authenticity. Whether they are stray shopping lists or simple scribbles, they offer a "stolen intimacy" with strangers I will never meet.
Tattooing a "pen test" -the ultimate symbol of the temporary- onto the body -the ultimate symbol of the permanent -challenges the ego of the contemporary art scene and elevates discarded "rubbish" to a place of ultimate value.
This work is a provocation: Is it theft to claim what has been discarded? It suggests that nothing is truly original and art is cultural regeneration. By giving "meaningless" trash a new narrative, I celebrate the childlike state of pure play. These marks remain, simultaneously, a piece of rubbish and a work of art.