1999, Lady Rosemary, punched book and floral print, 19 x 25cm

2002, Wonderland II, 200 stuffed animals with white silicone, variable dimensions

1999, Silicone Smile, book with extruded silicone, 28 x 41cm

Jonathan Callan was born in 1961. A sculptor by training, Callan has always been interested in work that references the physicality of objects. “I’m self-consciously treating almost every book as an object first and foremost... I almost don’t care what the book is about. It’s almost as if I’m interested in doing something to the book as an object to emphasize the fact that language is incapable of dealing with certain aspects of life.” In wonderland , Callan has created a series of children’s toys injected with silicon. In using toys such as Tigger and Winnie the Pooh, which are loaded with cultural and historical content, Callan disrupts our sense of how things should be. As one saddened child visiting SEI commented, “They never had a chance!” By altering these objects, Callan is not only deconstructing them physically, but questioning our hardened preconceptions that we will only truly understand such objects if we grasp their historical and cultural content.

Jonathan Callan

2006, Towering English Super Thriller, books and screws, 126 x 32cm