"When man saw himself as separate to nature he began to build walls."

All Walls must and will eventually fall. Nature, unlike man will always find a way to carry on.

We all (some of us more than others) spend our lives looking for the truth. We look for it in the places in which we will never find it. The only place in which we can find it - in ourselves - we dare not look, because it scares the hell out of us; it unearths a 'wasp's nest' of fear and discomfort, which has been laid down over the years that one has spent alive on earth.

Nature, however, doesn't live by these rules/fears - it needs no walls. It is truth, and for this reason, when our cities have collapsed and when all our wars are done with, nature will be the thing which prevails, not us. Humankind is hurtling in the wrong direction believing, ever more so, that it is separate to nature, whilst it is beginning to depend on it more than ever.

In this exhibition 2 artists pay tribute to the parallel worlds of the troubled human species and the natural world, through a series of anniversaries which are marked in the current year of 2009. John Ledger pays tribute to the 10^th anniversary of the construction of his own perpetual walls, the 20^th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall, the 30^th anniversary of the release of 'The Wall' album by Pink Floyd and the 60th anniversary of the release of 1984 by George Orwell. These anniversaries have had a profound influence, either in the construction of his walls, or the in the realisation of them, even if it wasn't acknowledged at the time.

Bradley Sharp pays tribute to the 200^th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin, the father of the evolution theory, a theory which, as well as being very important towards the way we humans see life on earth, has played a very important part in the development of Bradley's life and his art practice.

It is also suggestible that Bradley's and John's works reflect the growth patterns of both the natural world and the manmade world, respectively. The automatic nature of Bradley's work - being that this is a reaction, and accommodation, to one's immediate environment - develops in a similar way to how nature develops/evolves, whilst John's work - being pre-planned and constantly point proving - reflects many of the larger insecurities which have plagued the human race since its beginnings.

John ledger

Preface for Wall inspired work

Walls are sometimes harder to transcend from when you cannot see them, and nor can anyone else; so I've made this one physical, look it's in front of you. Some people have had tougher walls built around them than others have. Some towns' cultures create more fears within its people than in other towns. Some Schools' cultures create more fear within their pupils than in other Schools. Even some eras oppress the minds' of their generation more than other eras. However, some peoples' minds are just more susceptible to fear than other minds; their minds are like mortar and the fears embed into it like bricks.

In this wall, you will find my brick, my concepts and my rants, as I, like everybody else looks for truth in life; This book dates from the 27th December 2008 to the 23rd of August 2009, documenting my life behind my own walls I have created. 2009 is the 10th anniversary of the construction of my perpetual walls proper, the 20^th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall, the 30^th anniversary of the release of 'The wall' by Pink Floyd and the 60^th anniversary of the release of '1984' by George Orwell. These anniversaries have had a profound influence, either in the construction of his walls, or the in the realisation of them. It isn't written to make complete sense, and it is not revised and edited to better portray my opinions, it is just an annual of the logical and the illogical, battling it out inside my mind in search of clarity in the face of the system I live under.

Intense thinking has to be clear if one wishes to pass through the perimeters of a statutory mental field they are in. It may be the truth that I subconsciously, but purposefully, make my mind into a mess of information in order to stay behind the barriers that, although aren't the happiest of places, do create a strong illusion of safety. It is named 'looking for truth' because you cannot look for truth, and this describes the futility of any hopes of transcending from oppression by confronting anything but the fears within.

Meanwhile, I try to make sense of a human world whose physical and perpetual walls are bringing us dangerously too near to a showdown with the Earth itself, a battle that humans will never be able to win. This knowing has merely perpetuated my own walls by adding fears. Everything that concerns one's self seems to be on a head on collision, putting one in a state of permanent burning daylight from now until the apocalypse; A never ending life of uncertainty and fear, which allows no escape and, because of the awareness of the state of the Earth, allows no validation for enjoyment.

Bradley Sharp

Preface for Darwin inspired work

Our separation from the natural World has never been so prominent. When a society reaches a certain level of development that complexity necessitates specialization. When this happens, gathering food becomes someone else's responsibility and individuals become detached from the myriad different species with which we share our surroundings. Even more so is this separation for those who live in Cities isolated from all but the most opportunistic species, ones which live in spite of us, rather than with us.

Without our connection to nature intact we lose respect for it, and treat it as a resource, there to be plundered and used to any extent we see fit. This treatment has already seen the extinction of hundreds of species and no halt to this is yet in sight. But despite the eradication of so many species, nature will still soldier on - robbed of some of its incredible diversity, it will endure.

Evolution is improvement through variation filtered by the trials of life. We are but one of these trials and, in the great scheme of things, rather insignificant. Evolution is the reason for the dazzling variety of forms we see in nature, each one uniquely shaped to fit a particular niche. Organisms contort, twist and mould to jigsaw into place with any natural and manmade perimeter thrust upon them.

Drawing opened our eyes to this constant struggle and fine balance. I'm sure that if Darwin were alive today, he would be arguing the sanctity of this balance and campaigning for its preservation.

On work

Each creature on this planet has its shape and behaviour, not only dictated by its surroundings but also by the many other organisms with which it shares its environment. One species' need to survive always contradicts another's, the resultant competition increases the likely prosperity of any individual which has a beneficial variation. This then has the effect of directing species toward new sources of habitat and food.

In this way, ecosystems are an immense 3d jigsaw puzzle, one so complex as to defy full understanding. One life form is shaped by, and in turn shapes, hundreds or thousands of other species directly or indirectly. When a new obstacle or challenge to life is thrown into this web of life, it may disadvantage, or possibly, eradicate one or many species, but that obstacle will always eventually be enveloped by the web, and becomes another link. In this way, species are shaped by each other and the vast amount of objects between which they have places themselves.

There is a very simple parallel which can be made between this shaping of organisms by one another and our understanding of line drawings. Due to the illusionistic nature of drawing, we have developed a very automatic understanding of it in order to quickly ascertain its subject and narrative. This almost immediate understanding can have the effect of us ceasing to question what we view.

E.g. the shapes on the right hand side clearly show