There is a play in my paintings between signs of a past or ending human imprint, often with overtones of upheaval, and an otherwise abandoned minimal environment. Clouds, water, horizons, fire, object fragments, walls, ruins are the symbolic actors.
There is a play in my paintings between signs of a past or ending human imprint, often with overtones of upheaval, and an otherwise abandoned minimal environment. Clouds, water, horizons, fire, object fragments, walls, ruins are the symbolic actors.
Out of this strange hinterland of nature and yet intrinsic to its imaginary, the act of painting and the levers of light, colour and surface mediate a different visual life.
It is this process, often over long periods of time, that I find compelling and which leads to a painted resolution of a kind that works for me. This begins when a straightforward reading of these depicted bare, abandoned or conflicted places is complicated by this emerging expansive visuality. The aim is an ambiguity where the act of painting affirms and denies the image in a metaphorically active way.
For me this energy resonates with issues of human crisis, displacement and habitation. While identifying with that, each painting inevitably has its own voice and life as a thing in the world, so there is no overriding claim to meaning. They are open invitations.
Training:
- Foundation / Maidenhead College of Art
- Dip AD Course / Leeds College of Art
- B.Ed (Hons) London University
- MA Philosophy Open University
Solo:
- Colour Radicals/Rugby Art Gallery and Museum/Sept - Oct 2018
- Signs Of Disorder/Rugby Art Gallery and Museum/Feb 2014
- The Instability of Spaces/AirSpace Dialogue Box/Stoke-on-Trent/August 2009
- A Different Kind of Beauty/Harrington Studios/ Nottingham - April 2009
Group Exhibitions/Events/Networks:
-Featured in Highlights, AxisWeb/ Sept 2020
-Coventry Artspace selected artist of interest/Axis Web membership March 2019
-Coventry Open/Feb 2019
-John Moores Painting Prize/ selected for exhibition July 2016
-Volunteer participant/refurbish pre-Glassbox/Coventry/Jan 2013
-ARC Pioneer volunteer and event participant/The Square and Herbert Art Gallery/Coventry 2013
-Flash mob/Christmas Pop-up event/Coventry Station/The Square, Coventry/2012
-ARC (ACE funded) print commission/Coventry Artspace/2012
-The Serious And The Absurd - working towards comic criticality/Talk on practice/Coventry 2012
-Earlsdon Festival Show/ Coventry/2012
-Airvent/AirSpace Gallery/Stoke-on-Trent/2011
-Slideshow/AirSpace Gallery/Stoke-on-Trent/2011
-Kiss Me Quick/Harbour Arm Gallery/Margate/2011
-Motel Knadski/Trajector Art Fair/Contributing Artist/Brussels/2011
-There Is Beauty In The City/ Ezcurdia_30 Gallery/Gijon, Spain/August 2010
-Common Ground/AirSpace public art exhibition/Hanley Park Stoke-on-Trent/June 2010
-Learning Journeys/Urban Vision/Phase One/Sheffield/Feb 2010
-Learning Journeys/Urban Vision/Phase One/Leicester/2009
-Pecha Kucha Night/FatCat Cafe and Bar/Co-organiser/Performer/Stoke-on-Trent 2009
-Inter?ogation/Walsall New Art Gallery/Sept 2009 Collaborative with artist Brian Holdcroft
-Marina Abramovich/participant /Whitworth Gallery/Manchester/2009
-AntiFreeze/Manchester/2009
-Aftermath/AirSpace studio artists/Leek Institute, Leek/2009
-Preston Pest Project/Castlefield Gallery 2008-Allotments/Harrington Studios, Nottingham 2009
-Salon /D2 Gallery/Leipzig, Germany 2008
-Play/AirSpace, Stoke-on-Trent
-Short Cuts/AirSpace Gallery 2008
-Identity/The Artists Organisation/ Nottingham 2007
-Headtalk/forum/co-creator/Stoke-on-Trent 2007-8
