Curriculum Vitae

Synopsis

Guyan Porter’s art explores the sociological and physiological foundations of belief. With meticulous detail and extensive research, he uses motifs of graphic information and structural architecture to explore social perceptions of environment, politics and reality. Installations look at ways that belief systems are constructed, through social consensus and repetitive messages. Recent works have illustrated parallels between group conditioning, brain patterns and religious experience, investigating the critical analysis of control systems and what drives complicity within them.

Mixing traditional forms with processes of political engagement his work connects with methodologies of conceptual and installation art, while referencing the work of pioneering social scientists such as Daniel Dennett and Stanley Milgram. Installations have created immersive, disorientating environments, exploring how concepts and belief systems, regardless of their purpose, can be instilled in us through repeat conditioning, affecting our most basic understandings of reality.

Guyan Porter is an artist and writer based in the South East of England. He set up his first studio in Glasgow in 1994, organising, exhibiting in and curating artist led projects and multi media arts events. His practice incorporates sculpture, installation, architectural intervention, political dialogue and events combining performance, music and visual art. Showing work in non arts spaces, he has also worked with major organisations throughout the world.

Recent solo and collaborative projects have taken place in Turkey, Scotland, England, Northern Ireland, Norway, Sri Lanka, Italy, Russia, France and Belgium. In 2005 he established The Edible Construction Company with Chris Biddlecombe and Emilia Telese, to develop environmental art projects that deal directly with particular environmental issues. As a writer he has covered the subjects of art, culture, politics, environmental issues and religion, publishing articles and essays, while writing a book on the evolution of the mind; a survey of key events that have shaped human consciousness.

Selected Projects

Selected Awards and Commissions

2008	Commissioned by UZ Events to produce The Environmental Art Project, Callendar Park, Falkirk.
2007	Visual Arts Award - Arts Council England. Commissioned by UZ Events to produce - live forever - temporary neon installation for Callendar Park, Falkirk. - 'a light meditation on death'.
2006	Commissioned by Glasgow University to produce portrait head of George Beatson.
2004	Emerald Triptych, lacquered steel and beetle shell, private commission.
2003	Scottish Arts Council Funding: research trip to the Venice Biennial Sculpture Installation for Painful Creatures, Performance Art Festival, Falkirk. Commissioned by In Situ.
2001	Scottish Arts Council Professional Development Grant: research trip to Documenta, Berlin and London.
2001	Year of the Artist Residency: Workshops and Public ArtWorks, The Island of Eigg. Shortlisted for the Museum of Scottish Country Life Public Art Commission, National Museums of Scotland.
1999	Commissioned by the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama to produce stage set for new production of Animal Farm.
1998	Commissioned by Devil Productions to design and produce Kinetic Sculpture for Channel 4.
1996	Commissioned by the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama to produce sculptural set pieces for new production of Cosi Fan Tutte. Awarded Shepley-Shepley Trust Youth Arts Funding: for equipment and materials.
1993	Shortlisted and commissioned to produce maquettes in steel and bronze, Natwest Life Sculpture Commission, Bristol. With the Royal Institute of British Sculptors.
1992	Shortlisted for the World Wildlife Fund Environmental Sculpture Commission.

Works Held In Collections

Work held in private collections in Scotland, England, Northern Ireland, Italy, Cypress, France, South Africa and Russia.

Work held in public collections by Huntarian Museum Glasgow, Aberdeen University, Wasps Ltd. and the Eigg Trust.

Education History

1989 - 1993 Grays School of Art Robert Gordon's University, Aberdeen.
Awarded B.A. (Hons) Fine Art, Sculpture

2009	The Democracy Project. Web, text, talks and events on the nature of democracy. Art and Politics. Talk at Chelsea School of Art and Design. Arts Futures : Creative Scotland? Culture Policy event with Leigh French at Glasgow School of Art.
2008	Protest Songs - Collaboration with Will Foster. series of sixteen public art performances at Barselgrad, Fykse, Norway. Joint founder member of The Global Collective - International Arts Group. Environmental Art Project, Callendar Park, Falkirk, 3rd and 4th May. Artist and Curator. commissioned by UZ Event. Invited Charter Member for Culturehall Contemporary Art.
2007	Rice Pavilion - Collaborative Public Art Project with Chris Biddlecombe and Emilia Telese, Jubilee Library, Brighton. Board member - NVA Environmental Art Project, Callendar Park, Falkirk, 5th and 6th May, Artist and Curator. commissioned by UZ Events. Collaborative Public Art Residency, sponsored by HARF - Dodanduwa Creation Centre, Sri Lanka. A Wall between Scotland and England - Collaborative Public Art Project, Glasgow and Brighton, UK.
2006	The Edible Construction Company - Founder member with Chris Biddlecombe and Emilia Telese. Stake - Performance Installation with Emilia Telese, FreeShout Festival, Prato, Italy. Gender Bender, Cabin Exchange, Pink Public Art Project, Glasgow. The British Art Show - Another Product at Cornerhouse, Manchester, group show A Healing Passion - One Hundred Years of Bio Medicine. Huntarian Museum, Glasgow University.
2005	States of Union? Catalyst Arts, Belfast. Artists Networks Coordinator - Scotland – for a-n's Networking Artists Network Initiative. Generator – Group show, Dundee. Networking Artists Exchange trip to Berlin, Funded by AN. G8A – a dvd and screening of artists response to the G8 summit.
2004	Event - Artist, curator, co ordinator for multi media performance installation event at Wasps HQ, Glasgow. Supported by Wasps. Painful Creatures - Performance and Installation - Falkirk, Bradford, Brighton, Sotteville, Graz, London. Guest speaker and organiser for Art Futures conference, CCA, Glasgow.
2003	Sculpture Installation for Painful Creatures, with Mischief la Bas, Performance Art Festival, Falkirk: Commissioned by In Situ, European Art Foundation. Scottish Arts Council Audit Advisory Committee. Sculpture Installation with Apex Hotels, Dundee Waterfront.
2002	Call for Entry, Market, Glasgow. Scottish Arts Council Audit Advisory Committee. Look Look 2002, International Art Project. Represented by Blink Red gallery, Edinburgh. Sci - Art - Internet Gallery, London. Digital and sculpture workshops with Fast Forward Play and Knowes Housing Co-op, Glasgow.
2001	Elected First President of the Scottish Artists Union. Art for Europe, Scotland House, Brussels. Curator for VAULT 2001, Multi-Media Arts Event, The Arches, Glasgow. Public Hanging at the Briggait, Group Exhibition, Glasgow. Invited Artist for the Royal Glasgow Institute Exhibition.
2000	Chairman of The Glasgow Visual Arts Forum. Reggio Emilia workshops, The Lighthouse, The Burrel Collection, Glasgow Events Organizer and Speaker for Scottish Artists Union, Glasgow Royal Concert Hall. Community Workshops with Lochfield Park Co-op, Easterhouse.
1999	Curator and Artist at VAULT, Multi-Media Arts Event, The Arches, Glasgow Art for Kosovo Auction, artists and organiser, Nairns Restaurant, Glasgow Guest speaker at Sofa: Professional Practice Conference, Glasgow School of Art Member of Monitoring Committee for redevelopment of W.A.S.P.S. Main Building, Glasgow.
1998	Selected to participate in International Exchange with Artists from Rostov-on-Don, Russia. Includes hosting Russian artists in Glasgow and residency in Rostov. Funded by Glasgow City Council and W.a.s.p.s. Artists Studios. Artists in Arms: Selected to produce work for Land Mines Project: Royal Geographic Society, London, Graffiti Gallery, Edinburgh. Organized by the British Red Cross.
1997	Source – sculpture installation, Intermedia Gallery, Glasgow. P.E.C.A. sculpture / philosophy workshop with Langbank Primary, Sculpture Works, Glasgow. Technical Consultant for Four Corners Sculpture Project, Manchester. Work selected for Voices; Anthology of contemporary poetry.
1996	Aesthetics Coordinator at E.P.I.C. Glasgow University, for P.E.C.A. Philosophy and European Contemporary Art. Sculpture Installation, the Italian Centre courtyard, Glasgow.
1995	Initiation of Source: Glasgow based visual art group.
1994	Sculpture Works: Opening of sculpture workshop for the production of site-specific and gallery based work. 77 Hanson Street, Glasgow. Natwest Life Group Sculpture Exhibition, Royal West Academy of Art, Bristol.
1993	Selected for Poetry Now, Anthology of Scottish Poetry. Sculpture Exhibition, CandaCraig Gardens, Strathdon. R.S.A. Group Exhibition, Royal Scottish Academy of Art, Edinburgh. Work selected for The Cracked Mirror, Anthology of Scottish Poetry.
1992	Group Photographic Exhibition, Man and Environment in Harmony, Royal Academy of Art, London.