About

THE STORY: PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE

I found some pencil sketches of a self portrait that I did 10 years earlier when I was living in Japan. These sketches already had the hallmarks of freeform shapes and organic geometry that you see in my work today. I decided to paint the self portrait on canvas with oil paint using the same sketch lines of the original. And this technique and style felt natural and become the style you see today.

THE PROCESS: CONTROLLED ACCIDENTS (YING AND YANG)

The painting process is a combination of order and chaos. Firstly, the sketch shape is set by the object I am painting. But, the lines within the object is freeform and left to intuition. Then the colours are painted within the confines of the shapes, but the colours that populate these shapes are again left to chance and feeling. 

Thus, the balance of structure and chance lead to an outcome that is best described as a controlled accident.

THE SUBJECT: STRANGE BEAUTY

I like to reframe the beauty of the strange or macabre. So I collect books, images and paraphernalia on subjects that elicit fear or aversion and then use my art to render them harmless by making them beautiful. This makes you look again and seduces you through geometry and colours to take another look at the subject matter. There is also a bit of a ying and yang sentiment here in juxtaposing beauty with the ugly. A skull or snarling wolf looks quite beautiful when you change the context of fear we normally associate with it, and in its place we get mystery and strength. The subject matter revolves around symbols that remind us of our mortality (skulls and skeletons), growling animals that evoke our innate fear of nature (Wolf, Tiger, Snake), symbols of mythology (Japanese demon and Zeus) and human battle uniforms that were designed to evoke fear in their opponents (Samurai helmet).

ALL PRICES ARE IN USD.