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.
Our memory recalls details and fragments of the past like a mental collage, ignoring the mundane aspects and magnifying what resonates with us to form potent memories. In a similar way, I cut and collage together photographs and sketches and use the resulting images as reference points for new paintings. My current work is based on a visit to Barbara Hepworth’s Garden in St Ives last year. I first visited over twenty years ago and last year I was struck by the timelessness of the garden, the world is an entirely different and digitalised place since I first went there in my twenties, but the garden was exactly as I remembered it which I found very reassuring. Since then I've been working on images combining photos and sketches of the garden with memories from my first visit in the mid 1980’s. I’m aiming for a visual distillation of a scene rather than a photo realistic representation, searching for the colours and textures that elicit an emotional response - a sense of history, energy and stillness.
2010
MAIL ART ONE: Long Gallery, TRON Theatre, Glasgow (www.tron.co.uk) 12-30 Jan.
Artist's Open Houses (Independant Trail) all weekends through May see www.aoh.org
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
Naked Eye Gallery, Brighton
Modern Artists Gallery, Whitchurch on Thames, Berkshire
Corporate collections: LaVerbe BV, Nijmegen NL