Artist statement
My work deals with visual perception, in particular the fact that we can receive conflicting information from a given visual stimulus. The preconceived assumptions of eye and brain are challenged, raising questions about the subconscious and how we interpret what we are looking at. Memory plays an important part in how we perceive the world around us and the recent series of paintings ‘Remembered Present’ and 'trace' address this concern.
Change through time and the inevitable accumulation of experience are themes that have underpinned my practice from early on. The way for example that buildings, much used objects and faces age, weathering and transforming with the passage of time, is a constant source of inspiration. I try to evoke a patina of experience in my pictures. This directly relates to the methods used to make my work where I combine conventional painting techniques with more innovative processes.
I incorporate a variety of materials in each picture, from paints and inks, to gesso and earth, which are applied in numerous layers. Each strata of material is laid down in varying thicknesses and finishes. A textured surface is produced, where the layers are often rubbed away unevenly and evidence of previous activity can be glimpsed.
Solo exhibitions
- 2010 Fugitive Fragments, Corn Exchange, Newbury
- 2009 Recovering the Lost, Slough Museum, Slough
- 2006 Tom Cartmill - drawings, Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre, Oxford
- 2000 Overlapping Views, The Mill Arts Centre, Banbury
- 1999 Persona, New College, Oxford
- 1998 Un Anno in Sicilia, Galleria Candelai, Palermo, Italy
- 1997 Monochrome, Phoenix Picture House, Oxford
Group exhibitions
- 2012 Greenham Open 2012, Corn Exchange & New Greenham Common, Newbury
- 2012 BOOKFACE - chapter 3, Rising Sun Arts Centre, Reading
- 2012 Autumn Exhibition, Ark Conference Centre, Basingstoke
- 2012 AfterWords, Arlington Arts Centre, Newbury
- 2012 Life Force, Corn Exchange, Newbury
- 2012 Reading Contemporary Art Fair, Rivermead Complex, Reading
- 2012 Boundaries and Beyond, ReOrsa - Gallery@49 Contemporary Art Space, Bracknell
- 2011 Parcel Fever II, OpenHand OpenSpace, Reading
- 2011 Received Wisdom, Arlington Arts Centre, Newbury
- 2011 All That Remains (ReOrsa project 5), More Arts, Wokingham
- 2010 Benchmark, Terence Conran's Benchmark Showroom, Benchmark, Newbury
- 2010 Eighty, Reading Museum, Reading
- 2009 Hackwood Arts Festival, Hackwood, Basingstoke
- 2008 Affordable Art Fair 2008, Battersea, London
- 2008 Encore, Gallery 10, Reading
- 2008 In Passing, Arlington Arts Centre, Newbury
- 2007 ReOrsa - Space I, 51 High Street, Bracknell, Berkshire (more info)
- 2007 Early and Later Works, Newbury Museum, Newbury
- 2006 Group Show, Basingstoke Central Library, Basingstoke
- 2005 Insight 2005, New Greenham Arts, Newbury
- 2004 Open, Surface Gallery, Nottingham
- 2003 Drawing Open, The Bracknell Gallery, South Hill Park, Bracknell
- 2003 View, Artsway, Sway, Hampshire
- 2003 Obsidian Art, Stoke Mandeville
- 2003 Taurus Gallery, Oxford
- 2003 St. Clare's College, Oxford
- 2003 Newbury College, Newbury
- 2002 Open Shutter, The Bracknell Gallery, South Hill Park, Bracknell
- 2001 Exposicion Colectiva, Galleria Cobalto, Cordoba, Spain (more info)
- 2001 Jelly Leg'd Chicken Art Gallery, Reading
- 2000 IV Esposicion Internacional De Pintura Y Fotographia, Alcazar De San Juan, Spain
- 1999 The Mill Gallery, Banbury
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