Sean Crawford has always been interested in the urban landscape and the natural world - specifically, our human interaction with the built environment. He believes it is part of an artist’s job to critique and provoke dialogue. In doing this, his aim is to turn the banality of an object into a statement - one that pulls us back into our humanity - from the starkness of our man-made surroundings.

Crawford also has a fascination with graffiti as a form of social commentary - as the action of this, at times, subversive art form often calls ‘the system’ into question. Whether it be Keith Haring’s early subway graffiti art or the urban-style tagger making a name by the prolific nature of their bombing, it is the statement art of the
underdog that appeals to him. Fast forward to the likes of Banksy, where the act now transcends vandalism and becomes ‘ART’ - and the juxtaposition of this, where society tries to make a commodity from this subversion.

Crawford uses his formal design background to take the idea of a utilitarian object and flip it into the state of KNOW MORE. With this phrase actually having been tattooed onto his knuckles, his intention is for KNOW MORE to be a reminder for him - and others - to constantly question everything. As with many of Crawford’s works, the viewer is asked to consider something they know and accept about an object and its function. Then Crawford challenges that act of taking the accepted (at times also the banal) and alters its meaning. This is often done by changing the makeup of its surface to carry a new, or different, message.

He believes these new objects remind us of our humanity, as well as keeping our connection to nature. Crawford feels too often the urban world attempts to bury this relationship, and in doing so, risks rendering us ‘part of the machine’. That is the concept that he offers with these pieces. By seeking to always KNOW MORE, Crawford believes the connection between ourselves, our environment, and nature strengthens - rather than the opposite reality, where the connection risks becoming ‘NO’ MORE.....