Figurative painter.
Born Wolverhampton, 1972
I am primarily concerned with the human condition, the inevitability of death, the anxiety of existence.
I paint with a knife, charcoal and graphite sticks. I slash, stab, gouge, flick, smear, drip, cut the paint, working as fast as possible in order to release the emotional energy that will charge the painting with a raw vitality.
I emphasize the painted mark, rejecting slick, pristine surfaces, searching for a more primitive, untamed energy. I use the graphite to cut back into the paint.
Painting is like a battle. You may start with a plan but once you begin, you are working with your wits, using chance, searching for an opening.
I experiment with the paint, adding oils to make the paint more visceral. I like paint to look like paint. I try to push the paint as far as it will go.
I reject the easel. I cut canvas straight from the roll and tack it to the wall. This gives a surface that can really be attacked.
When I'm not painting, I work from the masters.
I attempt to convey a sensation, to get across the brutality of truth, to lock the subject's energy in paint.
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