Home (8 photos)

Lincoln

It's On.

Everything's So Important

This winter's military look

Detail

Inelegant Drunks

untitled (for now)

Persian Cats in Petri Dishes

Interrupted by an Ox

'Our Nches E'

Adverts creeping into my work now

Oil paint, wood glue and pva

Spray mount and paint pens

After the Image Search exhibition I took a little (well deserved) break. Back in Kingston now though, and back on it.

Here's the first instalment of my petri dish experiments, most of which will end up as parts of larger pieces. These petri dishes feature spray mount, and the ink from a white paint pen.

More tomorrow.

Split-Second of Imagined Doom

Image Search Interview

what was your inspiration for this show, if there was one?

well, there wasn't really any one particular artist who i feel directly inspired these works. It's more of a response to the way I go about collecting inspiration, I look to films or the internet.

was there any intention for the show?

I didn't initially set out with an absolute goal for the show. It's turned out as an affirmation of my struggle with post-modernity I guess. I mean, painting as a modernist isn't enough anymore, it's all been done. But then post-modernity doesn't really sit very comfortably with me. What seems to have happened is I've turned the irony of post-modernity back on itself, and created some kind of mad unending irony onion.

So with irony hiding underneath more irony, does your work actually mean anything?

Some of the pieces comment on fairly specific aspects of contemporary art and culture. But mostly, its an ironic complaint.

An ironic complaint?

yes, well I'm complaining about the state of contemporary art, and the institutes that uphold it. But at the same time, by complaining, I hope to be accepted into the canon.

You sound confused.

I am.

Ok, so tell me about the red film stills

They're all characters in films that I have been able to relate to at some time. whether or not that can be considered a good thing is debatable. They're all these kind of anti-hero, young male figures, all very confident. I find these paintings quite uncomfortable, that may just be my relationship to them though.

Yes, I think it's just you, I think they sit really well.

Well, it wasn't the image itself I find uncomfortable, the images are striking in all the right ways. But they're not my images, really. I should be the thanking Kubrick and Danny Boyle. I mean the fact that I felt I had to make these paintings makes me feel a little unsettled.

Cool, so would you care to explain the triptych of triptychs

They're a direct response to the way that News is presented in 'The Media'. All the stories are presented with equal significance, so unimportant things such as 'How Do Tiny Turtles Walk on Sand' are presented as equally important as 'British Troops Prepare for an Afghan Offensive'.

I didn't get that from them at all, until you just told me.

I guess that's just what they mean to me, how they came into being. They can also be looked at in a wider context. These paintings of seemingly unconnected images can be seen to mirror the current saturation of images that is all around us in cities. There are so many things, not just advertisements, but architectural styles, anything, they all in habit the same spaces, and affect one another.

So are you trying to change this saturation of images?

If I was then I think making three three-part paintings would be counter-productive. No, I'm not trying to change the world, I'm just trying to see it and make sense of it.

But don't you think you have a responsibility as an artist?

No. I don't have any more responsibility to change the world than anyone else does. The difference between artists and everyone else is that they're so egotistical that they think everyone else should be able to see the world as they see it. I'm not an artist because I want to change the world, I'd have to be a scientist or politician.

Do you know what you're going to do next?

Sort of. I'm going to explore the grey areas between painting and sculpture, I've already started down that road with the petri dishes. And most importantly I'll be trying to stay away from any form of irony.

Cheers

yeah, bye.

High Speed Collision 1 & 2

Sick Boy

So this is one of the three finished red film stills. It's going to be going on sale on the 20th in my exhibition 'Image Search'. I kind of hope it doesn't sell, I really like this one.

Oil on canvas

120 x 90cms

The Pig That Wants to be Eaten

This is another of the latest paintings to happen in the Swansea studio. Really quite enjoyed using the petri dishes, it's like creating lots of small, round paintings, then bringing them all together.

The Pig That Wants to be Eaten

Mixed media and bits of pig on canvas

Approx 75 x 75 cms

The studio

Behold how much space I have all to myself. It's so worth being homeless in Swansea to get to use this much space to paint in.

It's ok to be jealous.

Glorious Appropriation

These four canvases are appropriated straight from the pages of Cornelia Van Rijswijk's sketchbook. I knew as soon as I saw those pages that this had to be done, it's not often that a chance for such irony presents itself.

Works In Progress

So these are what I've been working on over the last week. They need to be left to dry now before being washed over with red. I'm rather enjoying being back in a studio, it feels much better. And couch surfing is much nicer this year than last year, weirdly.

Anyway, hope you enjoy these premature forms

Nonsense.

I found a sketchbook dating from when i was 17 just full of doodles and sketches. Here are a selection of my favourites. I don't think they were ever intended to be seen, but I think they're interesting.

Caffeine fuelled foolery

Here's just some more sketchbook nonsense. Not long until I'll be back in a studio now. Found some gold leaf though, and discovered just how difficult it is to use

sketchbookery

Here's the next instalment of sketchbook nonsense. Can't wait to get to the studio in Swansea now so I can start realising some of these ideas fully.

Red.

Some further experiments into the effects of monochrome red. These are film stills washed over with red gauche. The top and bottom black bars really aren't conceptually needed here to reference the cinema, but they tie the images down I think.