A Little North, is a town open to all. Punks play loud music here, nine-to-fivers stop for a coffee break and athletes run laps around the city’s centre. It’s a town where nostalgia is awoken and sentimentality stands on guard.

Carved by chainsaw from single blocks of 150kg Spanish pine, 52 wooden sculptures stand within the space. Scattered in their placement and set against the white walls of the gallery, this minimalist backdrop offers a space for the imagination. Perhaps, you have gazed out the window on a long car journey and seen houses on the horizon, perhaps you have made stories for the people who live there, or perhaps, you have grown up there yourself. Intentionally leaving the specifics of their environment empty, Potter provides the people whilst leaving enough space for the viewer to insert memory.

Whereas a painting’s story begins blank and narrative gets built up, carving a block of wood involves a reverse methodology; its story begins via the process of reduction, chipping away to reveal form. Each sculpture is unique – a one-of-its-kind – it represents the individuality of all its characters and gives space for their singular stories to prevail, or for the viewer to at least imagine. Whilst some characters make direct reference to Potter’s family members, others simply depict archetypes of Americana. With links to blue-collar industries, the chainsaw itself is a tool through which Potter can manually explore his ongoing fascination with American culture, and more importantly his personal experience of growing up in a small town… a little north of New York. Potter reinvents the chainsaw and uses it as the painter’s brush, making marks with immediacy and following the material qualities of the wood to depict raw geometric forms that eventually take shape as figures. The use of minimal equipment and a self-taught practice gives the work its humble aesthetic and makes reference to American folk art. Hand-painted and adorned in various accessories and clothes, no two sculptures are the same. Yet they do all share the same stance and facial expression: oversized hands placed alongside their bodies, coupled with a simple and an almost uncanny line for a smile. When you enter the crowd and walk amongst them, gossip ruminates, stories are fabricated and your sheer size stands out, evoking feelings of entering a new town as an outsider.

Unable to leave his hometown behind, Potter rebuilds it in Mallorca, Spain. Fabricated while working in the mountains of Esporles, each of his sculptures offers a unique narrative and contributes to the collective experience of visiting a new area. Dispersed within a town, devoid of characteristics, Potter constructs an environment of autobiographical descent, whilst generously inviting the viewer to become the main protagonist. Making the little things large, this exhibition highlights the people that make us who we are: a little town, a little north, a little life.

Brooke Wilson