I
clearly remember my parents buying a book on modern art in the late
60’s. I devoured the illustrations, and spent ages looking at
photorealism and pop art. This love has stayed with me for life. I
studied Art in the 80’s, a time of poll tax riots and fat cats, raw
energy and creative aggression.
My work is still influenced by pop.
Like the old masters of the 60’s, I plunder and borrow icon imagery and
ideas. I reconstruct them in the form of paintings, 3-D works, and
photographs. As ideas and icons find their way into my work, I layer
images and their meanings into new entities.
The way images find their way into my
work is intuitive. Images have to have an iconic quality. They have to
trigger a reaction and convey meaning, be instantly recognisable and
have a strong presence. The fabrics I use have to be useable from a
purely technical point of view, and, at the same time, be meaningful
and aesthetic. When using objects, they have to convey meaning, and be
mechanically workable and sound, all at the same time. Generally I have
a love of kitsch, bad taste and popular culture, clowns, gun culture,
skulls, tattoo imagery.
I don’t challenge the medium of painting and sculpture. I want my work
to communicate meaning without the viewer having to peel away concepts
of art theory. My work hangs on walls and stands on floors. I am happy
with that.