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The
proverb says ‘Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path
to your door’--- artistically-speaking, I’m still searching for the
perfect mousetrap, though I have to say that my current working models
are starting to fill up with the curious and the unwary.
At
school and even before I used to draw and paint relentlessly, and was
always storing up reference materials---scrapbooks, comics, tea-and
bubblegum-cards, all sorts of visual material, which has eventually
turned into a library. I still draw on this all the time, which I
suppose is why my paintings have that patchwork effect---certainly
there is reference to visual and literary sources of all types and
periods.
If I
have to describe the paintings (which mostly I don’t as they speak
for themselves) I usually list the following adjectives; exotic,
erotic, classical, contemporary, magical, alchemical, poetic,
figurative, like the work of a magpie if it took up painting.
I have a
strong belief in drawing---the discipline of communicating ideas, and
my works tend to be built on a strong graphic framework. I suppose
this is the reason I admire the great comic and strip artists so
much—Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko—most of the Marvel artists in fact, as
well as Richard Corben, Moebius, and a lot of the Heavy Metal
crowd—plus classics like Will Eisner who created ‘The Spirit’, George
Herriman who drew’ Krazy Kat’ for 40 years, Winsor McKay whose
character ‘Little Nemo’ upped the ante for all artists in the early 20th
Century. I think the best of these stand serious comparison with
accredited greats such as Rubens, Ingres or Rembrandt. William Blake
said ‘Drawing is the Probity of Art’, and I believe that,
unfashionable though the notion might seem.
It would
also be fair to say that my work reprocesses lots of ideas from
literature past and present---from cool poets like Arthur Rimbaud or
Charles Baudelaire(very fashionable with the Dylan crowd in the ‘60s
and again with Patti Smith and the New York New Wave in the ‘80s) to
less obviously fashionable writers like Colin Wilson (the original
‘angry young man’) . I used to scribble myself, but eventually saw
sense and gave up, doing the world a considerable service in the
process.
Shrewd
observers will detect endless references to Popular Music –everything
from Delta Blues to Talking Heads, via the Beatles, Captain Beefheart
and the Grateful Dead, but this is usually just there for those who
get it, and not necessary for general enjoyment of the work. And, of
course, Art and Art History are referenced constantly---Cubism,
Futurism, Mannerism, Symbolism, all make guest appearances—see
Alchemical Cubism, illustrated, for example.
I hope
and believe that this makes my canvasses particularly rich and dense.
The paintings are highly-coloured, to give a strong and immediate
visual sensation, but complex in their content, so that years after
first contact pieces of the jigsaw are still falling into place. The
works are designed to unfold over a period of time, so that first love
builds into a deeper relationship. A stab at the eternal values if you
like, though often achieved by capturing the ephemeral and giving it
room to grow (Bart Simpson growing up to become Seneca—he’s got all
the potential, he just needs someone, other than Marge, to believe in
him)
I mostly
use acrylics—they dry fast and so give me the ability to apply the
numerous layers necessary to get the brilliant colours--- and I work
on canvas. Sometimes I do large (A1) watercolours, though not in the
English tradition--- my ‘Ideal Heads’ and ‘Dark Angels’ series are in
this medium, and make extensive use of airbrush and spray, which gives
a subtle and ambiguous result. Very different from the acrylics. Very
occasionally I make Voodoo Dolls or other magical items---not really
sculpture and definitely not toys. I draw all the time and seem to
produce a high proportion of angels, many of which have a protective
function.
Though
I’m happy to enjoy the fruits of New Technologies—Virtual Reality and
so on---it’s not what I do. I believe that there is a real and unique
power in the hand-made object--- in my case the paintings—so I
continue to make what I hope is visual magic—and to continue my search
for the perfect mousetrap.
Published in Art of England magazine, Oct/Nov
2003'
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