Due to the possibilities of imagination and the versatility of the medium, to me painting can be meant for so much more than mere depictions of reality. Intuition I think taps into something higher, something more meaningful yet inexplicable.
Due to the possibilities of imagination and the versatility of the medium, to me painting can be meant for so much more than mere depictions of reality. Intuition I think taps into something higher, something more meaningful yet inexplicable.
With this in mind, I would like to make paintings like waking dreams in which logic and decipherable narrative are abandoned, leaving only qualities and spaces for thought and feeling. This non-narrative approach to painting has been a common thread in my work since I began oil painting in the early 1990s.
In light of a recent and liberating technical breakthrough, I envision a far more prolific period ahead in which I can explore with greater freedom the possibilities of paintings that arise from personal visions and concepts that are largely unbounded by analytical thought whilst also embracing oil paint as a magnetic and embodying substance in its own right.
Education
2001 BA Fine Art (First Class), University of Sunderland
Exhibitions & Awards
2004 The Hunting Art Prizes Exhibition, Royal College of Art, London; "R+D", Reg Vardy Gallery, University of Sunderland; Big Art Challenge, Glasgow, Gateshead, Liverpool, Channel 5 Television (final shortlist)
2003 two-person show (Steve Whitehead & Sonny Williams), Pilgrim Gallery, London; The Hunting Art Prizes Exhibition, Royal College of Art, London; Barker & Stonehouse Art Prize, "The Hanging Jury", The Biscuit Factory, Newcastle Upon Tyne / Tyne Tees Television (First Prize)
2002 The People Show, University Gallery, University of Northumbria, Newcastle Upon Tyne; Diesel House Studios Summer Exhibition, London; Sotherby's Shrewsbury Open, Shrewsbury Museum and Gallery; Art in Action, Waterperry Gardens, Oxfordshire; Contemporary Figurative Painting, Fisherton Mill, Salisbury; WO1 - The First Washington Open, Arts Centre Washington (First Prize); Eye Opener (Durham Open), DLI Museum and Art Gallery (First Prize)
2001 "Pure", Glode Gallery, North Shields; "Finalists", Arts Centre Washington; Affordable Art Fair, London
Commissions
2022 - double portrait of private clients' daughter & son
2020 - portrait of private client's daughter
2019 - large-scale portrait of private client's son
2010 - double portrait of private clients' daughter & son
