Artist statement
I love paint in all its forms. The physical sensuality of it. The truth and the lies. Object and illusion. Window on the world. Window on the soul. Layers of factory-produced, chemically calculated magic. Years ago, in America, I stopped using rectangular stretched canvas. I started building makeshift constructions to paint on, that better reflected my situation and my state of mind. I wrote a thesis comparing art from different cultures, and was excited (still am) by possibilities that surface when exploring the nature of art in the light of cultural and societal conditioning: things don't have to be as they are; anything goes; anything is possible. Yet, out of all the myriad of equally valid alternatives, choices still have to be made.
In 2000 I had the opportunity to create a very large installation. I made objects (including a structure built from early painted canvases) but also worked directly on the walls, drawing and painting. This then led me back to using rectangular stretched canvases: portable walls to work on. To produce complex surfaces made from layers of interacting textures and colours. Self-contained, but maybe fragments of something else. Like all my work, the new paintings are about the fragility of the world. Relationships, rhythms and the juxtaposition of opposites: they refer to whats going on off-stage things I feel, touch, hear, remember as well as what I see. They are to do with questioning everything; and making connections. And they revel in the language of paint.
Qualifications and training
- 1983 MFA, Southern Illinois University, USA
- 1981 MA Fine Art, Eastern Illinois University, USA
- 1976 BA (Hons) Fine Art, Portsmouth Polytechnic
Solo exhibitions
- 2006 High Steel Blues, IAIS, University of Exeter, Exeter, Devon
- 2005 "Summer Collection", Phoenix Arts Centre, Exeter, Devon
- 2004 "Constructions in Colour", Atelier Gallery, University of Exeter, Devon
- 2000 "The Spider's Palace", Art Haven, Exeter, Devon
- 1995 "Seeds Of Celebration", International Cultural Center for Youth, Jerusalem, Israel
Group exhibitions
- 2013 Creekside Open, A.P.T. Gallery, London
- 2012 Art Haven, Redearth Gallery, Tiverton, Devon
- 2009 Art Haven: Same River Different Water, Piazza Terracina, Exeter
- 2009 Drawn In, Sidcot Arts Centre, Winscombe, Somerset
- 2008 Art Haven 2008, Gallery 86, Crediton, Devon
- 2008 Cork Street Annual Open Exhibition for Charity, Cork Street Gallery, London
- 2007 The Big Works, Gallery Terracina, Exeter, Devon
- 2005 Art Bar Live, Exeter, Devon
- 2005 "Reasons to Love the Earth", Leeuwenbergh, Utrecht
- 2005 "Small Originals", Gallery 22, Ashburton, Devon
- 2004 "On The Wall", Olympia, London
- 2002 Hands On Touring Art, Burton Art Gallery, Torre Abbey & Torquay Museum, Bideford & Torquay, Devon
- 2001 JAA, Candid Gallery, London
- 2000 "The Interface Between Art, Science & Technology", New Greenham Arts, Newbury, Berkshire
- 2000 Visual Arts Festival, Torre Abbey, Devon
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