Charli Kleeman is a Glasgow-based multimedia sculpture artist working in metal, ceramics, fluid and wood.
Their work centres around the concept of Trans-Hypermasculinity - where transmasculine people radically embody hypermasculine traits, simultaneously reinforcing and dismantling them. This idea developed through research into Scottish deer stalking and its presentation as an ethical form of violence.
Their sculptures incorporate references to hunting equipment, 18th-century laboratories and the endurance of prey animals.
Craft is central to their practice. Imperfection is accepted; materials are chosen for their resistance.
Their degree show installation What If You Regret It was made during a period of strategic removal of trans rights in the UK. The work reflected on bodily autonomy, DIY hormone production, biohacking, and the need to perform dominance to survive it.
Their recent work made for RSA New Contemporaries follows on from themes of systems of violence and survival, in a fountain that mimics the 18th century ‘needle shower’, an early psychiatric treatment involving high pressure cold jets to shock or punish asylum patients.
