There are only two great subjects that, sooner or later, an artist has to confront: love and death. Having embraced them, everything else seems trivial
I never know what to say when I have to write about what I do - I suppose this is why I choose to paint. So please take into account that it is likely to be the "inexpressive trying to express the inexpressible".
Unlike most realist painters I don’t see things and want to paint them - although I sometimes wish I did, as I suspect it might be easier. My life presents me with emotional and intellectual challenges which can concern, intrigue or amuse me. In an attempt to make sense of these experiences I try and come up with imagery that explores, or expresses, them.
The resulting imagery is not illustrative, it is always metaphorical. This is because I am trying by painting an image to "understand", not to be understood. It is essentially an intuitive process. I generate images that for me express something - I don’t know of what, and I don’t analyse what it might be. It isn’t that I don’t evaluate possibilities, I spend days choosing exactly what will be included in each painting, but the evaluation is made on a purely "like/dislike" basis.
Viewers are often misled by the exactitude of the style into thinking I know what I am doing eg. "trying to tell them something", whereas I am actually trying to find out something. Any resulting ambiguity is then not deliberate but as a result of my ‘not knowing’. The paintings, to use another metaphor, are like a mirror - they reflect something of myself back to me. Their revelations often surprise me. They don’t ever provide answers but, if I successfully encapsulate whatever feelings stimulated them, a separation occurs and I can move on.
Apart from the therapeutic effect of "laying" these conceptual "ghosts" there is also my need to create. If a week goes by when at the end of it I haven’t created something, I feel I have squandered a precious opportunity. A long holiday or period of inactivity is frustrating for me - I begin to feel purposeless.
My creative process is unquestionably self-centred in that I do it for myself - not to please, or appease, others. Seeking approval is natural, but I believe it ultimately it corrupts art and undermines originality.
I was born in Leicester in 1950. I studied at Loughborough College of Art and Design from 1968-72. I had my first solo exhibition in 1973 before taking up the post as ‘Artist at sea’ with the British merchant navy from 1974- 76. Now a veteran of over twenty solo exhibitions, I have been represented by the Nicholas Treadwell Gallery, London (1977 - 94), East West Gallery, London (1995 - 2009) and Bo-lee Gallery, Bath/London (2009 - 2014), Singulart (Online gallery based in Paris) 2021+
My works are available to buy at Singulart.com or you can contact me directly
Forthcoming Exhibitions
2023 Old Parcels Office Gallery, Scarborough (group show) 21st October - 5th November
Selected exhibition history
2023 Warwickshire Open Studios (solo exhibition)
"Artroom" Leamington Spa (group show)
2022 Joined Singulart (online gallery)
Warwickshire Open Studios (solo exhibition)
"Discomfort zone", The Temperance Bar, Leamington Spa, (solo exhibition).
2021 Warwickshire Open Studios (solo exhibition)
2020 "Talented" Art Fair, Truman Brewery, London
2018 Artifex Gallery, Sutton Coldfield (solo exhibition)
Warwickshire Open Studios (solo exhibition)
"Sympathetic Magic", Slate Gallery Leamington Spa, (solo exhibition of drawings).
Rugby Open 2018 (mixed show)
Royal Birmingham Society of Artists Open Exhibition (mixed show)
2017 The Temperance Bar, Leamington Spa, (solo exhibition of drawings)
Warwickshire Open Studios (Solo exhibition)
"The Answer", Deasil Gallery, Leamington Spa (solo exhibition)
"Open 17", Leamington Spa Museum and Art Gallery exhibition (mixed show)
"Portraits 1", The Artists Workhouse, Studley (group show)
2016 Leamington Spa Museum and Art Gallery "Spotlight" exhibition (group show)
Warwickshire Open Studios (Solo exhibition)
Rugby Open 2016 (mixed show - commended)
2015 Ist Prize Winner West Midlands Open,
Leamington Spa Museum and Art Gallery (Mixed show)
Warwickshire Open Studios (Solo exhibition)
2014 “Oneself as another” Royal West of England Academy, Bristol
(Group show curated by Bo Lee Projects inc.Lucien Freud, Francis Bacon, Gavin Turk etc.)
“Human Clay Revisited” Ropewalk Gallery, Humberside (Group show)
Warwickshire Open studios (Solo exhibition)
2013 “Juxtaposition” Creation fine Arts, Beverley (Solo exhibition)
Affordable Art Fair, Bo Lee Gallery, London (Group show)
2012 “Severance” Eleven Gallery, Hull (Joint exhibition with Anneka Reay)
East West Gallery, London (Group show)
Warwick Open Studios (Solo show)
2011 “Severance” Bo Lee Gallery, Bath (Joint exhibition with Anneka Reay)
London Art Fair, Bo Lee Gallery (Group show)
“Open”, Leamington Spa Museum and Art Gallery
“Darkness to Light” The Octagon, Bo Lee Gallery, Bath (Group show)
2010 “Life Paintings” Machado Gallery, Barford (Solo)
“Birmingham Open” Birmingham Museum and Art gallery (Mixed Ex.)
Art London, Bo Lee Gallery (Group show)
Warwick Open Studios (Solo show)
2009 “Don’t look now” Bo Lee Gallery, Bath (Solo)
Plus One Gallery, London (Group show)
Rebecca Hossack Gallery, London (Group show)
2008 “The beauty of ugliness” East West Gallery, London (Solo)
Warwick Open Studios (Solo show)
2007 Artifex gallery, Sutton Coldfield (Solo)
2006 Nomi Gallery, Leamington Spa (Solo)
Warwick Open Studios (Solo)
2005 East West Gallery, London (Solo)
2004 Warwick Open Studios (Solo)
2003 East West Gallery, London (Solo)
2002 Artifex Gallery, Sutton Coldfiel (Solo)
2001 East West gallery, London (Solo)
2000 Schloss Agatenberg Gallery, Hamburg (Group show)
1999 East West Gallery, London (Solo )
1997 Artifex Gallery, Sutton Coldfield (Solo)
1995 Erikson and Elins Gallery, San Francisco (Solo)
1994 East West Gallery, London (Solo)
1987 Nicholas Treadwell Gallery, Canterbury (Solo)
