About Us
Dean Phillips & cARacTac™
When I first thought of the name back in 2004 it was originally spelled with K, but shortly afterwards I realised there could be a problem with 3 K's. When I read it back to myself, replaced with a C it was the difference between the freezer door opening and walking off the plane in Jamaica.
"CARACTAC" - Characters made from tac.
I never had the patience for art classes when I attended St.Peters.They just did
not seem important at the time, sitting on your ass getting numb bum just to draw
flowers or a bowl of plastic fruit. However, I did become interested in ceramics
which is probably why I'm so involved in my creation of caractac™ sculpture.
Centre of the Labyrinth
It all started back in 1994, seems so long ago now. I moved to London from the West Midlands in search of a peaceful life, I can hear you saying "London for a peaceful life!" Well I did and 2 days after I came, I was introduced in to the world of advertising, far from peaceful!
This is when I was re-aquainted with the product Blu-Tack® manufactured by Bostik, well known for its versatillity. I would also use similar products on the market, with different colours and elasticity. All for the same ends, to stick posters up on walls.
Using blu-tack as a sress ball can be very therapeutic. It was around this time that I found myself creating strange little figures, just passing the time of day.
Kinky Compass
I was in a friends house one day talking to Amy in the kitchen, my friend's daughter. I was playing with a piece of blu tack and I'd given her some to see if she could create something. While I was busy with my sculpture she started laughing uncontrolably. When I looked to see what she had made, it was a little chimp.
Now I was laughing, in came mum, Lisa. We were now all laughing, I'm sure the chimp sculpture was laughing as well! This is when I squashed that which I had made. I was very surprised to hear my friend Lisa say " Why did you squash that? That was really good" to which I replied, "Ah sorry, I lost interest in mine when I saw Amy's Chimp. I will make another one for you but if you like it that much, will you buy it from me?" She agreed and this was when I realised that I had found my own little niche, making art from blu tack.
For a while I was making them as free standing sculpture but as time went by space was becoming a problem, so I set about adapting them to board, then canvas. Now I had the added benefit of using wall space. However the leap forward was after a girlfriend suggested that I should take photos of them.
Some time later I did and was truly amazed with the photos and that, with a little creativity how I could introduce extra depth and character.
The Images at the top of the page are examples of new art from old sculpture. Where I have manipulated the original photo of the sculpture.
