Carl Cashman is a contemporary artist based in Devon, who creates stunning, vibrant geometric-based optical art generally with a neon based palette, a name Carl made for this is 'Neometry' or Neometric Art... when viewed under blacklight the works take on another life. In 2013 Carl had his debut solo show at Breezeblock Gallery Portland, Oregon which sold out in under 1 week.
LOVE - Pencil
KS - You’ve said in the past in reference to your geometric-based works of art that you play with “perspective and textures to create what I call 'Graffiti Landscapes'” – can you tell us a bit more about these landscapes and what they mean to you?
CC - I've been working on some pieces that are built up of different patterns and scale, they are kind of like a map. So on a ordnance survey map you have symbols that represent landmarks or transport methods, I've been treating these works in a similar way... creating a visual language within the designs.
KS - I really like your piece for Art on a Postcard, it’s actually now my phone background. I want it as a sticker on my laptop! Your geometric optical art is so vibrant and eye catching that it could be used on textiles, as a logo, or even graphed all over a concrete skate park! Do you take the decorative quality of your art as a positive thing and play on it or does it bother you that people like me might receive it like that?
CC- 100 % yer, I definitely see the decorative quality as a positive. I think its healthy to not take what you do too serious. I mean, always give as much of yourself as possible while making the work, but sometimes its nice to just make a pretty picture. Mentally though, I think its good to have a mix, as if none of my output was related to experiences and was purely for aesthetic purposes, the drive to keep creating would soon wane.
KS - There’s definitely something very pleasing about this one in particular, maybe it’s the softness and blurred quality of the pencilled lines or the simplicity of the grey-scale. Why did you choose to ditch the colour vibes? It seems out of character, especially for the festive season!
CC- Thank you ! over the last 12 months I've been playing with grey scales and black/white more frequently. The colour work is obviously very vibrant and sometimes feels like your eyes are being bombarded, black and white tends to rely more on the vibrations a pattern creates. Every now and then I convince myself that less is more .... either stripping back the design or colour and trying to let the subject matter speak for it self.
KS - What about the LOVE message, it appears in quite a few of your works, what made you choose that as your slogan? I think it’s particularly fitting message both for the Christmas season and The Hepatitis C Trust!
CC - The first love piece came after a break up, it was kind of a play on the term ‘Love Hurts’... relating the the physicality of the emotion and also the vibration the pattern caused when viewing. Now i just use it to try and be positive, as cheesy as it sounds... you can never have enough love in the world.
To have a chance to win Carl Cashman's original artwork buy a Golden Ticket HERE!
About the writer
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Katherine is 22 year old writer based in London. She graduated from the Courtauld Institute of Art and is an advocate for anything made or done by women. If she’s not devouring books and drinking cups of strong black coffee in downward facing dog, she’s fighting the patriarchy through interviewing women artists or giving you her heartfelt feminist opinion. She believes that the key to life is to be constantly interested in the women around you, only when we are mesmerised by the existence of each other can we truly unleash our greatest human potential. |