Bow Arts speaks to artist Dominic Snow, known as Elephantman, about his artistic influences, the importance of crystals in his work, and his most recent project, ‘The Love Machine on Wheels’.

Hi Dominic, can you please tell us more about yourself and your artistic practice?

I am known as Elephantman, because of the elephant sculptures I put around London and other cities in the UK, such as Sheffield, Bristol, Brighton, Chesterfield, Hull and Southampton as well as Berlin and Paris, and Tarragona in Spain. Although I have diverged from that in recent years, the elephants are still a part of my artistic output and still form a part of my current projects.

My work over the last couple of years is very much focused on interactive installations called ‘Love Machines’ which invite users into rituals designed to deliberately harness the placebo effect in order to enable the participant to address harmful fears and limiting beliefs.

What themes are you interested in?

I am mostly interested in the nature of reality, the nature and role of love in our lives, and the idea of being akin to a virtual reality game. How does it change how we view the world around us if the virtual reality we inhabit is consciousness evolution training game?

Tell us about your current studio in Thamesmead and how you feel it will go on to influence your work.

I have had a studio in Thamesmead since 2019 and the Lakeside Centre is a wonderful creative space. Without the Lakeside Centre it would be very difficult to work on my current project.

Who are your artistic influences & inspirations?

My long time friend, the American artist Shrine, has been the biggest influence in my artistic career. His use of found objects as art materials has had a profound effect on my work, and the artist residency he offered me in 2022 at the Highway Sanctuary allowed me to branch out into installation art and create the first Love Machine installation which made its debut at the Art With Me festival in Miami in November 2022.

What are the challenges you face as an artist/designer/maker?

The biggest challenge I face is marketing my work and making it a self sustaining business, so that I don’t have to do other things to make money such as carpentry or teaching.

Your work often incorporates crystals, nature, and other natural objects. Can you please let us know more about the energy behind your sculptures and how they work?

I use found, broken or rejected objects because they have a history of their own, an energy derived from where they were before and who they belonged to. I have now come to believe that consciousness is the foundation of material reality, and therefore it is in everything. I am simply diverting objects from the waste stream and reconfiguring them into artworks that please me (and sometimes others)!

Crystals are living things, based on the definition of ‘alive’ that holds that everything falls apart, or decays except living things while they are alive. Living things hold themselves together and need energy to do it, but as soon as they are ‘dead’, or the spark has departed, decay sets in rapidly. Mineral crystals such as quartz, a highly ordered structure that grows out of the rock, are thought to have the ability to hold one’s intentions or programmes, I can’t know for sure, but thinking that it sounds logical, I programme the quartz crystals through meditation to project love to their surroundings. Love is like a clear, clean musical tone, whereas fear is discordant, but it is all made of sound. The idea therefore is that the crystals I use are programmed to project a clear and clean energetic vibrations to the word around them.

Can you tell us a little about your work at the Lakeside Art Shop and Thamesmead Social café?

My work in the Thamesmead Social is a group of faces made from found objects, most of which were picked up on the river Thames at low tide. I began making these in 2022 and have continued ever since, I have now made over 100 of these, mostly in the US.

What are you working on at the moment?

Right now, I am working on the ‘Love Machine on Wheels’ with artist and collaborator Julie Hall Hall, the latest version of the Love Machine project. It is an immersive art experience in the back of a converted horse box, made from found objects that harnesses the placebo effect to promote positive mental wellbeing. Participants are invited through a series of rituals designed to remove limiting beliefs such as fear and unworthiness, leading them to dive into their dreams and have gratitude for who they are and their current circumstances. Each Love Machine has a different focus to guide users to greater personal empowerment. We have taken it to three festivals so far and the feedback has been extraordinarily positive. Is is a contemplative journey away from fear and towards greater love and self-acceptance, and we are hoping to take it into schools and other establishments in the coming months.

Find more of Dominic Snow’s work below

Website: https://elephantmancreations.com

Instagram: @elephantmancreations