Artist Statement
There are themes in my work that are recurring and that are, as with most artists, derived from ongoing and often diverging, interests and experiences. Screen imagery is frequently referenced, both in terms of creating scenic, architectural structures and in the use of deeply contrasting lighting. Connected to this is an interest in paintings from the past such as those of the Dutch Golden Age that display a fascination for the kind of lighting that is a forerunner of film lighting today, in which subjects emerge from dark, evocative backgrounds. In sharp contrast I am also aware of the influence on me of modernism both in terms of painting and architecture.
Subjects are also regularly drawn from opposing elements, often focusing on where the city meets the landscape or where sea and sky connects with the built environment. I am interested in structures, both built and organic and in an implied narrative which is in itself open to interpretation by the viewer. This latter interest frequently means the introduction of the figure - in drawings they are also used to indicate scale and are often isolated in a highly structured landscape. Even in paintings where the figure is absent a human presence is usually suggested by light in a window. In tandem with land/cityscapes I also engage with the figure directly and an alternative strand is the painted portrait. These however can also involve similar concerns to my other work with figures frequently placed within a structured background and with a very defined light source.
What ultimately interests me whatever the subject or medium is the ability of paint and pencil to create an alternative drama to film. The media I use allows a slow reveal rather than a rapidly unfolding storyline both in the process of making the image and in the viewing of it.