About the artist
Issy Milton is a mixed media visual artist working with paper, charcoal, thread and light.
Her work is multi-dimensional: historical source material overlayed with pounced outlines of celebrity animals; found sex cards made into playing cards, overstitched with intricate embroidery. In each piece, Milton invites the viewer to question visual history and familiar iconography.
Milton’s practice is inspired by the traditional technique of ‘pouncing’ used by artists from Michelangelo to Holbein to transpose preparatory drawings to canvas or plaster for painting using pin prick outlines.
In Milton’s work pouncing superimposes familiar images on found print material. But rather than copy or cover up, Milton’s pouncing is an act of force designed to distort the subject matter, provoking the viewer to see it in different ways.
Milton holds a Master of Arts in Museums and Galleries in Education from the Institute of Education, a Bachelor of Visual Fine Arts from Goldsmiths College and a
Certificate in Higher Education from the University of Brighton.
She currently lives and works in Europe.
ARTIST STATEMENT
My work is inspired by the world around me, past, present and future. Using traditional craft techniques on historical source material means I can decontextualize existing stories and reconstruct them into new ones.
My practice is about asking questions. About challenging norms and received wisdoms. Reconnecting historical fact with contemporary thinking.
I use embroidery to create conflict between process and aesthetic: the destructive stabbing of textile at odds with the delicate and intricate needlework imagery it produces.
Layering needlework over familiar iconography allows me to create different layers of tension in the work. I am inviting the viewer to cast a different eye over what they see, encouraging them to see through the outer layers to a much darker core underneath.
CONTACT
Issy Milton lives and works in Europe.
Please contact her at isodoramilton@gmail.com
Instagram: @politeextinction