About (6ft)
A serious artist & painter making non-serious art. Loves all things paint & pigment. Looking to combine the old & new. Old Master techniques but with satire, current affairs, pop culture and the odd tongue in cheek reference to the history of art.
Studied philosophy but painting, drawing and creating have always been a passion. Interested in making paintings not pictures that exploit all the magic of oil paint & other art materials. Tries not to get carried away with subject matter or meaning, instead looking to emphasise something about the broad history of art & artistic practices. Thought and mental energy are not wasted on unnecessarily complicated or pretentious themes but saved for informed & considered decisions over things such as colour, line & texture - the aesthetic!
Inspired by Caravaggio & Rembrandt and then later, Peter Howson, especially in terms of colour & contrast. Focusing on portraiture in particular, his paintings seek to bring a playfulness to imagined characters. Drawing on the artificial realism of George Condo; the eerie but innocent pop portraits of Yoshitomo Nara; & neo-expressionism of Philip Guston, no subject is off limits and ideas come from everywhere.
Always open to new ideas and happy to take commissions.
CV
Exhibitions:
2024 - Fox Yard Studio - Small Works - Stowmarket
2024 - Mrs Jones Art Shop & Gallery - Love Letters to the Future - Online
2024 - Circular ArtSpace - 11th Community Exhibition - Bristol
2024 - Mrs Jones Art Shop & Gallery - Spring Open Exhibition - Shrewsbury
2023 - Mrs Jones Art Shop & Gallery - Open Exhibition - Shrewsbury
2023 - Soden Collection - Secret Artist Sale - Shrewsbury
2022 - Shrewsbury Museum & Art Gallery - Summer Exhibition -Shrewsbury
2022 - Soden Collection - Secret Artist Sale - Shrewsbury
2022 - Belle Vue Arts Festival - Shrewsbury
Featured:
2023 - My Shrewsbury Magazine
2021 - My Shrewsbury Magazine
Inspired by artists everywhere, especially when they say cool stuff like this:
“Give me some mud... and I will paint you a luminous picture”
— John Ruskin
“What am I working with? It's only coloured dirt.”
— Philip Guston
“It's like Rembrandt painting Bugs Bunny.”
— George Condo
“Love an earth pigment, traditional, versatile and cheap!”
— Morgan Bird