Adam Buick’s work uses a single pure jar form as a canvas to map his observations from an ongoing study of his surroundings. Adam incorporates stone and locally dug clay into his work to create a narrative, one that conveys a unique sense of place. The unpredictable nature of each jar comes from the inclusions and their metamorphosis during firing. This individuality and tension between materials speaks of the human condition and how the landscape shapes us as individuals.
Landscapes have inspired artists for generations but for Buick a landscape has to be felt. To depict it is always going to fall short. He was inspired by archaeological theories that the Menhirs of prehistory are a veneration of the landscapes that surrounds them. With his site-specific work he too is venerating the landscape. By placing a Jar at a particular location within the landscape he hopes it will make us look beyond the object to its surroundings.
Paths are a motif Buick uses to represent his actual and metaphoric journeys through a place. To understand a landscape is to move through it, to give it context.
“Paths are like common routes of experience, guiding us through the landscape. They are connections through time, to others and to the land. Ultimately my work is about being present within a landscape.” – Adam Buick