Craik Calum
2023
Artist Statement
My interdisciplinary practice examines the effects of neoliberalism and how this ideology functions through a set of principles as well as through physical signifiers, material conditions, and social relationships. I also make use of personal and familial items and stories which reference labor, housing, and privatization policy but also spaces beyond the capture of the market.
I document (photo, video, sound) and use materials from physical sites which exemplify neoliberal ideals—containerized ports, tech-hubs, construction sites, and private property—and related cultural items, such as down vests (the neoliberal worker’s “uniform”) and tech convention backpacks to make sculptures. The sculptures often use odd pairings of materials, precarious stacking as well as casting and haphazard building.
Bio
Craik Calum is an interdisciplinary artist who lives and works in New York and Scotland. Craik has exhibited nationally and internationally, which includes venues such as The Royal Standard in Liverpool, Nurture Art in Brooklyn, NY and the San Francisco Arts Commission Galleries, given talks at Real Time and Space in Oakland, CA and has been interviewed by the Berkeley Art Center. Craik has recently completed residencies at the Headlands Center for the Arts, CA and Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop as well as a solo exhibition as part of the Edinburgh Art Festival. Recently their work has also been written about by critic and historian Tausif Noor. Craik also has taught Sculpture at San Francisco State University and recently conducted workshop’s with Edinburgh’s College. Craik’s current practice is centered on the effects of neoliberalism on labor.