Artist Statement
I am an artist who came to the visual arts later in life. Originally from the Adelaide Hills in South Australia I relocated to the lovely seaside village of Bargara, Queensland (near Bundaberg) in 2015 after nearly a year of adventure, exploration and research overseas.
I draw, sculpt and paint using a variety of approaches and materials, including some unconventional media such as rust, salt, acid and other corrosive materials. With a strong emphasis on the material response and the processes used for creative production, my sculptural explorations also use a variety of materials including timber, clay, plaster, wax, resin and salt, often in combination with other found objects. My working method is process based with the eventual form of the work only emerging through the activity of making, often being quite different from what I initially envisaged when I began the exploration.
For my final year's studio practice in 2013 I dealt with issues of the human condition, existential concerns and my own grief journey triggered by a dying father, memories of my late mother and the realisation of my own inevitable ageing. This led me to create a number of 2D and 3D works, and a video piece that explores the theme of inevitable decay and demise as part of the human condition, but always with a view to transformation. I subjected simple motifs based on old photos of my late mother and father to various corrosive processes, as well as using salt and wax as specific materials in my work, thus using the temporal and ephemeral to reflect on the fragility of human existence and transient nature of life.
The artwork has a strong and interwoven theoretical underpinning of memory, time and the spiritual; a focus on materials such as rust, decay, salt and wax with a strong emphasis on process and material responses to my interventions. I wanted materials and media, more so than motifs, to be the carriers of my message - reflecting grief and loss but with a hopeful longing.
In 2014 I travelled overseas for 10 months with my wife. During that time I committed to the discipline of completing a "drawing a day" resulting in more than 280 drawings. These drawings reflect my own artistic journey over that period as well as the physical journey... places visited, experiences had, people met... lessons learnt, skills honed. The subject matter of the drawings are a record of our experiences... travel destinations, familiar landscapes, challenging weather conditions, and just staring out the hotel window at the end of a busy day; intermingled with glimpses of well known art treasures, and faces of people you're sure to have met... somewhere. These drawings formed the basis of an exhibition at the Bundaberg Regional Gallery in early 2016 and later at the Hahndorf Academy, South Australia.
In the last few year my focus has been directed more towards community and public art projects and in particular exploring the medium of mosaics for this purpose. This resulted in a solo exhibition of mosaic panels inspired by graffiti tags seen around the Bundaberg area. The exhibition Flushed Out: Street Art Meets Mosaics was held in a public toilet block in a prominent and popular beach side reserve. This has lead to a number of commissions and the development of a major community art project creating mosaic murals for the external walls of this public amenity. This community art project will be installed in late November 2020.
I admire the work of a wide range of artists including many classics: the drawing studies of Da Vinci and Michelangelo, the figurative explorations of Rodin and Matisse, and Picasso’s assemblages of found objects. I find that much of my work references, often unconsciously, historical imagery that I may have seen. Contemporary artists I have drawn on for inspiration in my current work include Istvan Sandorfi and Julie Fragar (painting), Berlinde De Bruyckere and David Altmejd (sculpture) and Emily Floyd (text).
I draw, sculpt and paint using a variety of approaches and materials, including some unconventional media such as rust, salt, acid and other corrosive materials. With a strong emphasis on the material response and the processes used for creative production, my sculptural explorations also use a variety of materials including timber, clay, plaster, wax, resin and salt, often in combination with other found objects. My working method is process based with the eventual form of the work only emerging through the activity of making, often being quite different from what I initially envisaged when I began the exploration.
For my final year's studio practice in 2013 I dealt with issues of the human condition, existential concerns and my own grief journey triggered by a dying father, memories of my late mother and the realisation of my own inevitable ageing. This led me to create a number of 2D and 3D works, and a video piece that explores the theme of inevitable decay and demise as part of the human condition, but always with a view to transformation. I subjected simple motifs based on old photos of my late mother and father to various corrosive processes, as well as using salt and wax as specific materials in my work, thus using the temporal and ephemeral to reflect on the fragility of human existence and transient nature of life.
The artwork has a strong and interwoven theoretical underpinning of memory, time and the spiritual; a focus on materials such as rust, decay, salt and wax with a strong emphasis on process and material responses to my interventions. I wanted materials and media, more so than motifs, to be the carriers of my message - reflecting grief and loss but with a hopeful longing.
In 2014 I travelled overseas for 10 months with my wife. During that time I committed to the discipline of completing a "drawing a day" resulting in more than 280 drawings. These drawings reflect my own artistic journey over that period as well as the physical journey... places visited, experiences had, people met... lessons learnt, skills honed. The subject matter of the drawings are a record of our experiences... travel destinations, familiar landscapes, challenging weather conditions, and just staring out the hotel window at the end of a busy day; intermingled with glimpses of well known art treasures, and faces of people you're sure to have met... somewhere. These drawings formed the basis of an exhibition at the Bundaberg Regional Gallery in early 2016 and later at the Hahndorf Academy, South Australia.
In the last few year my focus has been directed more towards community and public art projects and in particular exploring the medium of mosaics for this purpose. This resulted in a solo exhibition of mosaic panels inspired by graffiti tags seen around the Bundaberg area. The exhibition Flushed Out: Street Art Meets Mosaics was held in a public toilet block in a prominent and popular beach side reserve. This has lead to a number of commissions and the development of a major community art project creating mosaic murals for the external walls of this public amenity. This community art project will be installed in late November 2020.
I admire the work of a wide range of artists including many classics: the drawing studies of Da Vinci and Michelangelo, the figurative explorations of Rodin and Matisse, and Picasso’s assemblages of found objects. I find that much of my work references, often unconsciously, historical imagery that I may have seen. Contemporary artists I have drawn on for inspiration in my current work include Istvan Sandorfi and Julie Fragar (painting), Berlinde De Bruyckere and David Altmejd (sculpture) and Emily Floyd (text).
