Artist Statement

My work is an amalgam of memories, experiences and ideas that draw from history, mythology and nature. I mainly work in painting, drawing, printmaking and ceramics with figures in invented narratives, their identity or essence remaining ambiguous as if just passing through. Often I cut and splice together scenes from the historical, mythical and modern world in an attempt to understand the fragmented way we experience and process a world oversaturated by images and information.
I paint with solvent-thick oil paint allowing it to unpredictably veil over half formed figures and creatures creeping up from the subconscious. Some paintings are dense with bodies and form, piling right to the edges of the frame, whilst others offer a quieter perspective leaving parts unfinished, intending to not occupy the space but more to hold it. Crowds are a notable interest, finding interest in the build up and dispersal of energy.
In drawings I build worlds with places that bend time and logic, although these are still believable places, they feel familiar. My thoughts tend to get lost, bubbling just beneath the surface. I am pulled towards printmaking, to etchings gathering and merging memories half-remembered. This point where you are unable to tell if an image is from the memory, reality or a dream is what I’m most drawn to.
I like this feeling of art, that I’m taking the energy out of my body and putting it into a physical object. It’s similar to how a flower seeds. Like Kiki Smith, I am interested in our relationship with nature, how our conscious minds store the patterns, colours and sounds, such as a bird in flight. This archetypal imagery builds up the foundations of my practice where I continually experiment, allowing for spontaneity.