Statement
I make work that acknowledges the complicated business of life in the information age. The sheer quantity of content is overwhelming. Old certainties lie in crumpled heaps at our feet and the questions of who and what to trust seem ever present. But the business of living goes on and making work in this context is perhaps just my way of introducing a pause for reflection in the relentless flow of things. An attempt to add some gravity, or lock something down. The images, whether in paintings or sculpture, emerge slowly and seek simplicity. They are often representations of people in some predicament or other, or arrangements of objects that might be interpreted as such. They draw widely on classical traditions in art as much as they do from the more popular visual languages found in comics and films. If they have anything to say it is that we’re still here somewhere
Biog
After art school in Oxford I spent my early career in Glasgow. There I worked with other artists and groups militating for cultural change, while making work that was, largely, directed by the appetites of the same institutions we sought to disrupt.
Given this beginning, it is something of a surprise to me that I am now a studio-based artist, working independently from an old dentists surgery in the heart of Cambridge, making work that is not at all aligned to those early priorities.
In the years between then and now I have worked in art schools, galleries and, for 15 years, as an art director in the games industry, where I worked on projects that ranged from Looney Tunes capers and first-person shooters to fantasy epics and open world adventures.
In all of these roles, as well as the various casual jobs that have been part of the mix, I have been inspired as much by the people involved as I have been by the more obvious creative opportunities afforded by the tech, the situation or the position.
Some Details
Born 1964
Schooled; Derby,Glasgow,Bristol,Oxford
Graduated; Oxford University (Distinction) 1986
Exhibitions 2010-16 London, New York, Miami, Cambridge, Bristol, Stockholm, Beijing, Edinburgh
Exhibitions 1987-95 Poland, Finland, Scotland, England, Spain
Employed 1986-2010 Sony, Infogram, Greys school of Art, Tramway, Glasgow Sculpture Studios
Publications 2011-12 Good Old Drawing, From Killzone to Canvas, Show me the Monet