Ian Phillips McLaren

MA Fine Art

My practice combines video, sculpture, performance, 19th century photographic processes and animation. My current work is an investigation of the inner ‘self’ through a Jungian lens.

For the MA Degree Show I crafted four effigies representing Jung’s four main archetypes, which, when combined, represented the whole ‘Self’.

Each video-sculpture characterised separate aspects of my identity, performing independently but at the same time, collectively creating a single self-portrait in a three-dimensional environment. These performances ranged in delivery and dialogue and were designed to engage the viewer on multiple levels. I disrupted any emotive response to the piece by revealing the mechanisms of its operation.

I came to the MA Fine Art Course from a commercial photography background. In 1989 I was the subject of a BBC TV film ’A style of one’s own’ and shortly after became Artist in Residence at the Glasgow School of Art, teaching photography and darkroom techniques. In 1990 I exhibited my art in Glasgow as part of the City of Culture, produced my first album cover, followed by a series of portraits for American Vogue. I became best known for portraiture of artists and celebrities.

Now based in East Anglia, I’m working on my latest project - photography into sculpture. My work has been curated by Zelda Cheatle into the Royal Photographic Society’s ground-breaking exhibition ‘Squaring the Circles of Confusion’, which opens in Spring 2022.