Adam Wallace

"In my work I look at body dysmorphia, with especial regard to fat as an issue of body politics."

"I am a figurative artist working across a number of different media, paint, Photoshop collages, and time-based media, to name a few. In my work I look at body dysmorphia, with especial regard to fat as an issue of body politics. At the same time my work attempts to demonstrate my contempt for the rampant consumerism of advanced capitalism, which is largely responsible for the obesity crisis today, both through the irresponsible marketing of junk food and the feelings of alienation which are an inherent condition within our atomised society.

My painting process combines collage together with painted body, often horribly distorted, in order to create a tension between opposite elements. This is best achieved by placing industrial motifs alongside the expansive and deformed flesh I create. I often make use of discarded cardboard as my ground, the dirtier the better, to reference the disposability of human beings as well as objects within today's consumer society; a tragedy we see unfolding on a daily basis through the assault on the welfare state led by David Cameron and George Osborne.

I decided to come to Goldsmiths because I felt my art education was stuck halfway along an arc of progression when I graduated from my Bachelors degree, and I wanted to develop my skills further. I chose Goldsmiths because knowing its established reputation for the arts, I was certain I would enter the testing environment I want in order to genuinely develop as an artist. I also decided on Goldsmiths because, unlike many other MFA programmes, there was no requirement to declare in advance which medium wanted to study. I also liked what I perceived as the ethos of Goldsmiths, and having studied for three years in only two buildings I was excited by the prospect of studying at a campus university, and especially by having a studio in the iconic Laurie Grove bathhouse. So far I am far from disappointed in my choice."