 Although my work is inherently expressionistic, my approach to painting includes processes that inhibit my ability as a painter. I use various strategies of abstraction to promote and deny the picture plain. I chose a confrontational relationship with the activity of painting and enjoy the complications my uncomfortable approach promotes. Primarily I use a device of constant rotation, where the canvas is worked from unenviable angles. This forces me to paint in an environment without gravity. Alien forms and colours are applied and denied in succession until satisfaction can be achieved through the mayhem.
Though my work is developed from a blank canvas, it is by means of a hostile response to the picture plain that emerges, rather than any traditional nurturing approach that develops my work. For me, painting is a laborious process, although not necessarily an unpleasant one. The contact between myself and canvas is best described as an intensive struggle, which often has a prolific conclusion and discomforted compositions. I am essentially an abstract expressionist, by basic definition; my intention is to express feeling in the creation of a painting by means of gesture. My relationship with the canvas is personal, I engage under uncomfortable circumstance. I am an awkward person and these are my awkward paintings.
I develop from turpentine-oil washes; developing or aborting whatever forms may emerge under my own licence. My application of paint is so active that far more paint will be applied to the work than will ever be recognised within its conclusion. If I proposed that the planets could have corners, they would only be smashed off by the elements of the universe and would end up round again. I feel that the construction of my paintings and my approach to the canvas is analogous to this proposition. When I paint, the outcome is uncertain. My sought after conclusion has to be actively pursued within the process of painting. Sometimes I lose my way, but this is not the loss of a work, just a part of it’s’ history that can be built on. A spoiled plain would understandably deter some painters and discourage their activity. For me, losing the work and pulling it back is all part of the nature of the discipline; and for me, the life of the working.
I attempt to paint without a predetermined agenda and this approach continues through the entirety of the creation. The only truly preconceived constituent is the scale of the stretcher (6:5). Although I am familiar with my own mannerisms and devices, even I find my palette unpredictable. There are clearly many variables in my work and this itself aids me in my working progress.
Between applications the canvas is constantly rotated, usually in-between the four angles of a traditional painters approach. This awkward approach results in what I refer to as a sort of ‘zero gravity’, where there is no up or down as such. In this displaced way of painting, there is no common ground, only a shifting plain with components that get progressively more and more estranged. I refrain from working the piece from a comfortable position. This questions my ability to paint and I feel promotes a challenging environment for a healthy response.
I spent three years spent at Cheshire School of Art, aquiring A, B and C grades at A Level and a Foundation Diploma which i passed with Distinction. This was followed by another three years at the Manchester School of Art (Manchester Metroplitan University) where a 2:1 BA with hons was awarded for Fine Art (Painting).
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 Number 24
 Size: 47.25" x 39.25"
 Price: £1575.00
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Number 18
Size: 24.00" x 27.50"
Price: £480.00
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Number 14
Size: 24.00" x 17.50"
Price: £480.00
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3 artworks.
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