Group Show ‘Sketch 2005’, Seven Seven Contemporary Art, London
Group Show ‘Sketch 2005’, Rabley Contemporary Drawing Centre, Rabley, Wiltshire
Group Show‘Redundancy’, Access Aspex, Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth
Solo Show, ‘Flush’, Third Floor Arts Centre, Portsmouth

Group Show, Jerwood Drawing, Jerwood Space, London; University of Gloucestershire, Cheltenham;, BayArt, Cardiff; MAC, Birmingham; EICH Gallery, Hull; The Lowry, Salford
Group Show, ‘Chichester Open’, Minerva Theatre, Chichester           

Open Studios, Art Space Portsmouth, Portsmouth
Group Show, ‘View’, ArtSway, Sway, Hampshire 

My paintings affirm a desire to understand more about human relationships, specifically my own interaction with others. They are equally about forming a balance between formal concerns and the creation of emotional resonance. The values of selfhood and authenticity are central to my work, and the intimate relationship between artist and artwork is celebrated in a process that values that dialogical connection, and the revisiting of artworks and engaging with them over time. A desire for this considered relationship extends to the viewer also, in that while the work displays conspicuous references to the human presence, viewers are encouraged to test their own physicality against the painting.

While issues, thoughts and feelings, which often evoke memory, personal history, fears and anxieties, are central concerns, it is their exploration through the specific languages of painting and drawing that informs the meaning. In engaging with these humanistic themes, it is my aim to investigate those aspects of human experience that are not easily articulated through verbal or textual means, be they of a personal and subjective or societal nature.

In terms of processes, my working methods are disparate; a combination of dynamic mark-making mirroring the presence of the painter as traces and actions are relayed, alongside a meditative application of media to contrast with intense bursts of physical activity. Working against the wall or the floor, layers are formed with a skeletal drawing in place at the outset. Working over old paintings, sometimes leaving fragments showing through documents and traces experience. The emotional power of the colour, red, is entrenched in the content of the work, therefore it is not used as an illustrative or descriptive device. The aim is to achieve images that are raw, painterly and representative of a nervous energy.

Heads
Oil on canvas, 168x183cm, 2004

Safe and Warm
Oil on canvas, 183x121cm, 2003

Red Faced
Oil on canvas, 183x121cm, 2003

In Here and Almost Touching the Edges
Mixed media on paper, 28x27.5cm, 2003

Leaning and Almost Touching the Edges
Mixed media on paper, 30x28cm, 2003

Chain
Oil on canvas, 183x168cm, 2004