ARTISTIC STATEMENT
I am a Conceptual Artist and much of my work relies on the use of steel and paper.
I use steel as a metaphor for power. Its weight, its corrosion, its texture, its malleability, its hardness, its ring, all enthuse me. This, allied to the more vulnerable substances of wood and paper, provides me with the basic materials/logic I use for my sculpture. I enjoy the ambiguities of using materials to represent human characteristics or emotions. I like to argue. I feel great satisfaction when someone has the time or interest to “work it out” for themselves – and it is not unknown for me to change my story as a result of listening to someone else’s interpretation of a piece. I say that, because I feel that most of my radical changes have simply resulted from a chance remark or observation. They have not been thought out. Developments have been worked out but the basic idea just materialises as a result of wanting to try something different.
A large proportion of my work has been influenced by the Italian Sculptor Pietro Consagra who I “discovered” about 20 years ago. He set me on a new trail which I am still following, albeit with the odd diversion.
In 1998 I had the good fortune to win the “Best First Time Exhibitor” prize at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition with a piece called The Book. Two more of my pieces were accepted and shown the following year – Ying Yang and Picket Line.
I do like to keep my options open and seem to have acquired a reputation for pyromania in so far as lots of my pieces rely heavily on the chance results of fire. I like the idea of serendipity and to this end I find that playing with fire is both exciting and stimulating and brings an element of the unexpected into my work.
How successful I am at recognising opportunities and then capitalising on them is the main measure of my success.
I also enjoy etching and experimenting with glass and ceramic. In fact my artistic creativity is just one long experiment.
I hope you enjoy the experience.
ART EDUCATION
1992-95 Surrey Institute of Art & Design, Farnham, BA Hon’s Fine Art
1987-92 Southampton Institute of Higher Education Diploma in Fine Art
1985-86 Southampton College of Advanced Tech Foundation in Fine Art
I am a Conceptual Artist and much of my work relies on the use of steel and paper.
I use steel as a metaphor for power. Its weight, its corrosion, its texture, its malleability, its hardness, its ring, all enthuse me. This, allied to the more vulnerable substances of wood and paper, provides me with the basic materials/logic I use for my sculpture. I enjoy the ambiguities of using materials to represent human characteristics or emotions. I like to argue. I feel great satisfaction when someone has the time or interest to “work it out” for themselves – and it is not unknown for me to change my story as a result of listening to someone else’s interpretation of a piece. I say that, because I feel that most of my radical changes have simply resulted from a chance remark or observation. They have not been thought out. Developments have been worked out but the basic idea just materialises as a result of wanting to try something different.
A large proportion of my work has been influenced by the Italian Sculptor Pietro Consagra who I “discovered” about 20 years ago. He set me on a new trail which I am still following, albeit with the odd diversion.
In 1998 I had the good fortune to win the “Best First Time Exhibitor” prize at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition with a piece called The Book. Two more of my pieces were accepted and shown the following year – Ying Yang and Picket Line.
I do like to keep my options open and seem to have acquired a reputation for pyromania in so far as lots of my pieces rely heavily on the chance results of fire. I like the idea of serendipity and to this end I find that playing with fire is both exciting and stimulating and brings an element of the unexpected into my work.
How successful I am at recognising opportunities and then capitalising on them is the main measure of my success.
I also enjoy etching and experimenting with glass and ceramic. In fact my artistic creativity is just one long experiment.
I hope you enjoy the experience.
ART EDUCATION
1992-95 Surrey Institute of Art & Design, Farnham, BA Hon’s Fine Art
1987-92 Southampton Institute of Higher Education Diploma in Fine Art
1985-86 Southampton College of Advanced Tech Foundation in Fine Art