Fewer Words More Pictures.
The human form, animals, balloons, umbrellas, wind, wings, gravity and air – all make repeat appearances in my exploration of the individual’s relationship to others, their environment and themselves. The presence of space, for the onlooker to bring their own thoughts and experience to bear, is very important.
Using these and other elements, along with a contemporary pictorial and sculptural language, my work speaks gently to resilience, sadness, joy, uncertainty and perhaps above all, love.
I have made paintings sculpture since boyhood and since completion of an art degree (Bath 1991), I have made art for sale through galleries, my studio and website.
As well as working alone, I collaborate with fellow artists, technicians and commissioning clients in a way that positively enriches the relevant artwork. The result of those years of thought, observation, experiment and creation is painting and sculpture that is joyful and confident; subtle and enduring; contemporary and accessible.
The style of my work is diverse: I usually work in series, exploring an interesting thought in different ways using a range of techniques, materials and visual language to encourage a desired response or thought process. Stylistic diversity has nonetheless produced a cohesive body of work because of the consistency of underlying themes: revelry in the joy of being here, in the complexity, in the richness, in the challenge of being human.
True to one of those “interesting thoughts” (that we are here for such a short time and yet on the whole manage to live like we live for ever…) my art is hopeful, expansive, ambitious and original.
Followers of the contemporary art scene situate my work the in figurative, constructive and conceptual approaches of better-known artists such as Bruce Nauman, Olafur Eliasson, Cathy de Moncheaux. Thoughtful engagement with the work of those and many others (from Auguste Rodin to Robert Woolner) strengthens my work and gives it depth without compromising freshness or distinction.
My art usually includes a figurative element, often in a representational form and always with a conceptual function. The overall lock-up or composition of elements is designed to produce an object of beauty for contemplation – one that is neither merely decorative nor didactic or overly directive in its “messaging”.
To achieve that delicate balance, ambiguity is always a most carefully controlled element. Explaining the art is therefore sometimes a difficult business: when asked of a piece “what’s it about?” I have to try to give an idea of what I hope the work might make a viewer think…. but without spoiling what the work actually makes them think: as an artist, the very gift I want give is also the very thing I have to purposely leave out of my control. So… fewer words, more pictures.