biography
Born 1963: Chichester, West Sussex.
1980-82: Foundation Diploma, West Sussex College of Design.
1982-85: BA (Hons) Fine Art, South Glamorgan IHE Cardiff.
I grew up Chichester, West Sussex and began thinking about life as a visual artist during the late 1970’s while making posters to promote gigs for a local band. During a foundation course in at Worthing Art College (now Northbrook) I made my first screenprint and went on to do a degree in Cardiff specialising in Fine Art printmaking under printer Phil Jennings RA. After finishing my degree in 1985 I moved to London, exhibiting at the Royal Academy Stowell’s Trophy exhibition that year. From 1989 – 1995 I lived for two years in Barcelona then set up studio in Nijmegen (Holland) for three years, developing monotype screenprinting techniques and producing some large canvasses most of which now reside in the corporate collection of LaVerbe BV, a media and publishing company based in Nijmegen, Holland. In 1995 I returned to England eventually relocating to Brighton.
Artist’s statement.
How we remember places from the past and especially our childhood is something that I’ve always found fascinating. Returning somewhere years later it is rarely as we remembered (buildings are smaller, trees are in the wrong place) but the way we remember it can still have a hold over us even if the reality is different. The mind recalls details and fragments of the past like a mental collage, ignoring the mundane aspects and focusing on our experiences to form potent memories. I magnify details from photographs and sketches I've made then draw and paint on top of them to form images which become reference points for new paintings. I’m making a visual distillation of a scene rather than a photo realistic representation and the feeling I get back from a painting is ultimately more important to me than the subject matter. Eventually the painting will break free from its starting point and begin take on a character of its own, I try to nurture this change and be guided by the painting's progression rather than trying to dominate the canvas or force it to conform to an initial idea, much of the painting process is about trying not to judge its direction and knowing when to stop painting is key to it's success and survival.
The screenprinted work informs the paintings and helps me explore the subject matter in a different way. I tend to make monoprints or small editions of 10 silkscreen prints which stand independantly to the paintings, but will sometimes be recognisably the same subject matter as one of the paintings. The colours are built up by hand in the studio and I always paint my stencils by hand so it is a time consuming process but one which allows me to understand the images more fully. Having initially trained as a Fine Art printmaker, silkscreening has always been a part of the working process to me, and I return to it as other artists might return to life-drawing as a staple artistic practice.
2010
INSPIRES GALLERY, Oxford: Exhibiton of new work from Saturday 7 August for three weeks.
BRIGHTON ART FAIR: Corn Exchange, Brighton 16 - 19 Sept (see links from main menu)
MAIL ART ONE: Long Gallery, TRON Theatre, Glasgow (www.tron.co.uk) January.
Artist's Open Houses (Independent Trail) all weekends through May see www.aoh.org.uk
Exhibition selection:
2009: Art Liberating Lives, Mall Galleries, London WC1.
2009: The Fragile Landscape, The Architects Gallery, Teddington, London.
2009: Artist's Open Houses: Brighton.
2009: The Rock Trust: Fundraising exhibition: Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh.
2009: Nicola Thomas Architects, Brighton.
2009: Brighton Art Fair: Corn Exchange, Brighton.
2008: Artists' Open Houses, Brighton Festival
2007: ART/Clic: Bankside Gallery, London
2005: ASB Law, Brighton
2003: Kunstuitleen, Den Bosch, NL
2001: Terre á Terre, Brighton
1999: Absolute Brighton, Sussex Arts Club
1997: Freedom Café (curated by Roland Mouret) London (Solo show)
1996: 'Terminal Survival' Alternative Arts London (solo show)
1996: Galerie Valke, Amersvoort (solo show)
1995: Galerie 111, Nijmegen 'Hotel Babel'(solo show) (NL)
1994: Galerie Raster, Utrecht (NL)
1994: Galerie Hússtege, Den Bosch (NL)
1991: Galeria Del Sol, Barcelona.
1990: Café des Artistes - Covent Garden, London.
1989: Braganza, Frith Street, Soho, London (solo show)
1987: Hackney Town Hall, London (solo show)
1986: Fallen Angel Gallery, Islington, London (solo show)
1985: Royal Academy Stowell’s Trophy Exhibition, London.
Work in stock:
Inspires Gallery, Oxford
Modern Artists Gallery, Whitchurch on Thames, Berkshire
Corporate collections: LaVerbe BV, Nijmegen NL