You can tell as much about a society by what it discards and ignores as by what it values and aspires to be. Our modern life generates masses of debris - consumer goods, packaging, obsolete technology, industrial and household waste etc. In addition to this we no longer make do and mend, instead we throw objects away. Anthropologists look at objects from other cultures to learn about that culture.


We rarely stop to consider the world around us - if we did we may discover beauty in unlikely places. My work is based on the ephemeral things we discard / ignore and the traces we leave; marks, spills, scratches, scuffs, stains, found objects and the natural effect of time.


"Artefacts tell us something about the culture from which they come, But they also stand in for other things"  Cornelia Parker

 

PAINTINGS

 

 

 
My work is concerned with the unnoticed ephemeral elements of everyday life - found objects, marks, stains and the natural effect of time.

The objects I collect from the street form the basis of the work. The paintings are not abstract - they are based on something from the real world - a rubber band, a screwed up piece of paper, and a flap on a cardboard box. These are non-objects, just the remnants of life. An object taken out of its context and presented as a two dimensional form becomes ambiguous and works as a trigger to the imagination.

The works are closer to objects than traditional paintings. If paint is used it is house hold paint that is poured, smeared and allowed to congeal and crack - like spilt paint on a pavement. In addition to paint I use found materials - wax, plaster, photographs, paper, discarded books and clothes.

"We should remember that a picture - before being a war horse, a nude woman, or telling some other story - is essentially a flat surface covered with colours arranged in a particular pattern."

Maurice Denis, Definition of Neotraditionism. 1890

An image is just a build up of matter that creates an illusion. I find, select and combine these materials to create the forms. Working on wood allows me to attack the surface by scratching, sanding and stabbing. This adds to the works physical quality - like a collagraph printing plate or a religious icon.

I take objects and elements from the real world, combine them together to create another object. 

 

 








 

 










COLLAGES

 

 

 
Collage and assemblage run through all of my work - the composition of my photographs, my approach to painting and my use of found objects. The combination of debris can create new associations, meanings and help reveal the aesthetic beauty of the mundane.

 

 

 

POLAROIDS

 

 

 
Imperfect, unstable and obsolete - Polaroid's seem ideal for re-evaluation. They are technically limited, need the right weather conditions - so photo opportunity's are flawed. Unlike most photographs (a medium famed for its ability to be reproduced) a Polaroid is a one off - a photograph that is unique.

 






 

 

 

 

 

PROJECTS


 



For further work click on the image above.