I always loved to draw. It was probably the only talent I had. Having suffered the indoctrination of Catholic schooling it behove me not to bury that talent.
As a disaffected youth I was keen to attend college for all the wrong reasons. Applying for a Foundation course in Watford was more of an afterthought than a considered career move. The diagnostic studies took place against a background of dynamic opposition between tutors of an expressionistic aesthetic and those expostulating conceptual minimalism. Many of us felt marginalised unable to comprehend their arguments. Attempting to decipher their ontological tropes was like trying to find common ground between warring parents.
Having secured a place at Ravensbourne through the “pool” I dedicated my time to hedonism, my desultory art a periphery activity to fun. After a third warning in my second year, Catholic guilt took hold and I realised that the talent needed investment. Abandoning my immediate concerns, I returned to basics determined to investigate and refine my own painterly language of abstraction. Through process and contextualisation I pursued a personal and methodical analysis of the formal constituents of painting.
I continued to MA at Chelsea and then into the abyss of post-college reality.
I have continued to produce work and exhibit, through a succession of studios, jobs, galleries, partnerships, liaisons and groups. My broad knowledge of art practice and theory is constantly challenged through association with other experienced practitioners and my students. Maybe one of the principals of faith is uncertainty. If you know exactly what you’re doing you take the outcome for granted. Recognising the unexpected is an art in itself, allowing it to happen is another.