Distant Voices

Art for me is an almost shamanistic exploration of archetypal and interior spaces with the artist acting as mediator in a dialogue between subject and viewer. Drawing on Surrealist and Pre-Raphaelite influences I also integrate a love of history, fantasy and the vast pile of imaginative fiction books I devoured as soon as I could read. My fascination for the process of entropy and decay in nature, the way things man-made or living are absorbed by the land once neglected or transformed by light and shadow even if they are not is a perpetual source of inspiration for me. Dense urban landscapes, wild woods and lonely deserted places form a subconscious background to my imaginings.

While the world of myth and dreams may feature strongly in my work, I also find that contemporary ideas and events, the stuff of my everyday experience or reading also plays a part in my art. Deep down the occasional piece I create seems to have multiple layers of meaning to it, from the bizarre or personal to the political or mundane. The dialogues I strive to maintain with others about the world around us and about art are a very important part of the process of discovery and realisation that informs pieces as I create them, as well as afterwards when I reflect on what they might be saying. The possibilities conjured via keeping an online art journal have played a vital part in the evolution of my work and also my understanding of it. Art for me is all about dialogues. Something speaks to me as I work on a piece, and in turn speaks to others as they view it, seeing perhaps fragments of that voice and my own, and of theirs too as we all see things through our own unique experience. When I hear someone's responses to a piece it informs how I see it myself, and affects later work I might do as well.

My latest series of work is inspired by Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. Lewis Carroll’s work is a fantastic source of imagery and mythic themes that lends itself to individual interpretations. Rather than submit to the predominant visual expressions of Alice I have endeavored to enable fresh expressions to form. Often, I find myself treating the characters as individuals with their own demands as to how they wish to be portrayed. I hope you enjoy them, and they open up strange new horizons for you just as they are opening for me.