Pop Composite : Andrew Mangelsdorf : March 2010 Pop composite is the first exhibition of ‘composite assemblage’ artworks - an idea that came about over a year ago.

I wanted to create a ‘pop’ influenced exhibition using modern composite materials.

I had painted using acrylics on canvas for many years but felt the medium had become too restricting as to what I was imagining and wanted to achieve in my art.

The skills I had learned outside of art seemed like a wasted resource so I began to blend everything together and significantly changed the direction of the work I was doing.

My aim was to keep my style visually but bring colour to the work that paint alone didn’t offer and literally build the works using modern materials and techniques I was familiar with but weren’t commonly associated with art. Carbon fiber, foam, Perspex, epoxy resins, teak, plywood, enamel and electric light.

This body of work goes much deeper than the surface of the artworks - the use of the many materials are often an art in themselves – you don’t have room for error when using materials like these, the works are true ‘one off’ pieces that require planning and a lot of pre preparation, laminating and fabricating parts to suit the individual piece.

It’s very hard to go backwards on a piece once it’s started - you can’t undo anything involving epoxies and carbon fiber so the risk is far greater than simply applying paint to a surface.

The addition of electricity added another dimension to the work.

These pieces are interactive and allow the viewer to create different effects through light and alter the colour of a piece to suit their mood or environment.

As with all my exhibitions the themes are varied and some are familiar but the content is always fun - I love creating new things and this is an exhibition of things I loved creating.

Andrew Mangelsdorf