Please can you tell us about your artistic practice?
My practice is completely experimental. The studio is set up to respond to anything I want to paint, large or small. The only constant is drawing, which is how all my ideas are generated. The experimental method that I use revolves around the need to be surprised by my own ideas and challenged by how I might set about bringing them to life. Saying this, there are themes that I revisit over and over again.
What art education have you received?
I completed a foundation course and degree in Fine Art at Canterbury College of Art.
Where do you see your work sitting in relation to your contemporaries and the art world or art in the broader sense?
There is no avoiding the art world, however this is not the central focus of my work. I see my paintings as part of a broader tradition of Romantic painting and don’t concern myself with fitting in or trying to be relevant. I know my work is relevant – an artist has to believe in that first and foremost. My aim is to communicate, through touching on universal subjects and themes, not only to artists but to the broader public.
Where were you born / brought up and how has this affected your painting?
I was born in Oxford and was raised in the Peak District and spent much of my childhood roaming the countryside, unchecked, uncontactable and in a world of my own. I see a direct link between that and how I spend my time today – walking, disconnecting from the contemporary world and immersing myself in timeless experiences.
What and who are your influences?
Matisse is my main influence and has been throughout my life, but I have always been drawn towards the edges of his practice – the dark corners, the strange twists and his obsession with drawing as a kind of philosophical awakening. Matisse was full of surprises, mainly due to his authentic method and determination to discover new things. His early still life paintings, where he hadn’t yet perfected his recognisable style, inspire me the most as they are raw and unrefined yet reveal his ability to respond intuitively to subject matter. I think Matisse has been caricatured and, often, not enough time is spent looking at his ability to deconstruct and innovate. Matisse is known as one of our greatest colourists, which he clearly was, but he never tried to prettify colour and was always looking for something beyond the obvious. Despite popular belief, he was not a people pleaser. This determination to go further inspires me greatly.
Where are you trying to move towards in your work?
The aim is to be able to create a piece of work on any scale and respond authentically to my ideas spontaneously. My goal is to produce multiple collections simultaneously and move in as many directions as I can manage. I have a natural need to resist over coordination or repetition which I sometimes feel the art world would prefer. I want my collections to represent my roaming imagination and a fundamental need to be excited and surprised.
What is art?
Art is something that escapes the time in which it is made.
The role of drawing?
I see drawing as something which transcends style and fashion. It is a timeless and universal language which connects the cave wall to the gallery wall and everything in between. Drawing is a fundamental bedrock of my discipline, similar to the way in which a pianist might practise scales. I use it to develop composition but also to experiment with techniques and to purposefully find my way out of the narrow confines of what it is to be considered a contemporary artist.
Some Religious symbolism and iconography can be seen in your work from time to time, can you tell us more about this?
I was brought up as a Roman Catholic and could see the importance of religious language, especially in the way my mother talked to me and described the world. When I was very young, I had many formative experiences in Blackfriars Cathedral in Oxford, which I remember as being spiritual, supernatural and, quite frankly, extraordinary with their mixtures of pungent frankincense, Gregorian chanting and a call to prayer. Amongst all of this were statues of Christ, Mary, the crucifixion, the Saints – quite simply it blew my mind. Whilst I am not a practising Catholic, I can’t deny these early experiences and they connect to my need for meaning, shared experience and that sense of the Other. On top of this, the stories in the Bible say, in very few words, something about what it means to be human and how we can experience meaning in each other. I like to close in on subjects that are iconic, almost too intense, especially if I feel I shouldn’t deal with such things – it just makes me more determined. I like to confront the most powerful images I possibly can and purposefully seek out ideas and experiences that are overwhelming.
In practical terms, how do you organise your life? work / teaching / family
I follow quite a strict routine. I go to the studio every day, and work whether I feel inspired or not. My children are incredibly important to me though two out of three now live and work in London, and so work is juggled with family responsibilities.
What is a usual day for you?
A usual day for me is to get my youngest daughter to school, walk the dog and then spend 4-5 hours in the studio before returning home in time for my daughter’s arrival home from school.
We are honoured that you are tutoring some Masterclasses and programmes for us this year, can you tell us about why you love teaching and what students can expect from you?
Teaching is really the act of understanding something yourself; if you really understand something you can teach it. In this sense, teaching helps me to clarify my own thinking, but added to this I have a natural desire to pass on what I know and to give to others what has been given to me. People can expect a highly philosophical approach, full of questions, all underpinned by a genuine passion for art and for the extraordinary and inventive things that can emerge. I take great care over the individual experience and am dedicated to helping a developing artist discover something important about themselves and how their work might progress. Teaching is in my blood; my father is a passionate educator and academic and I have benefitted from a lifetime of being introduced to great teaching and learning principles as well as progressive and enlightened theories and ideas behind what it means to be human and learn. I see learning as a lifelong adventure.
