Jaden Wells

VIRTUAL TOUR

ARTIST CATALOGUE

The title of this body of work is Untitled

In the past few years, I have struggled with my mental health. During the past year I have sought out assistance to heal - a brief, pivotal experience was my voluntary institutionalization during November 2023. Since that time, I have been searching for methods to practice mindfulness in my daily life, as a means to create a set of daily practices and processes that lead to a sustainable sense of health and wellness. Inspired by sand mandalas of Buddhist monks and the works of artists such as Tom Friedman, I have found that immersing myself in the creative process is where I momentarily achieve this mindful state. 

The objects presented are the result of immersing myself in processes of making and un-making. I attempt to explore these dual processes as part of my creative practice, often through time and labour-intensive production methods. These objects are framed by the intersection of materiality, labour, and conceptual art. I personally hold more value for the immersive creative processes, and the feelings of solace it brings when creating these objects, instead of the objects themselves. This leads me to the theoretical framework that my work is based within – Wesley Cray’s (2014) notion that conceptual art is not the idea, but rather it is the art object imbued with ideas. By attempting to further Cray’s (2014) argument in my own praxis, and through my own healing processes, I imbue art objects with ideas of meditation, mindfulness and healing, through various time and labour-intensive creative processes.