The Night Crossing
Pastel on Board
The Thing
Pastel & collage on Board
Pastel on Board
Rat Pkink & Boo Boo
Above are three paintings from my first major solo exhibition Electric Brain at the underground art gallery The Horse Hospital in Bermondsey, London. The exhibition came about after Chris Campion – art critic for The Guardian and Dazed and Confused magazine – saw my work at Jeffery West in Piccadilly Arcade.
Campion contacted James BL Hollands and Roger K. Burton of The Horse Hospital, and they offered me a show in 2006 I was only 23. At the time, I was suffering from deep depression and it was incredibly hard to get everything ready while feeling so low.
But once the show was hung, I felt really proud of it. It remains one of my favorite exhibitions to this day.
You can purchase a Horse Hospital 20 Postcard Time Capsule, which includes an original Electric Brain
This artwork was created in a small studio in Ryde, on the Isle of Wight. At the time, I was struggling with my mental health — I had come to feel trapped on the island, which I came to refer to as “Alcatraz.”
The painting depicts a view from Ryde looking out towards Portsmouth, though the city itself is nowhere to be seen. A lone oil tanker drifts towards the oil refinery in Southampton. I am standing there, alone, in a state of melancholy.
The oversized ladybird, inspired by Naked Lunch, serves as a symbol of hope.
Troubled Mind
Pastel on Paper
148 x 117 cm
This painting is of my sister, Charlotte, and was created in 2008, when I was 27 years old. It felt like a real breakthrough in my abilities as an artist. The work is inspired by the paintings of Lucian Freud, Otto Dix, and Stuart Pearson Wright. It was exhibited at the Cork Street Open, where one of the judges on the selection committee was the actor John Hurt.
The Curious Tale Of The Lady's Of The Night
Pastel on Paper
130 x 181 cm
Above are two drawings: one of my mother, which I made sometime in my early twenties. The second is a drawing of my father’s shoes, created after his death when I was 33 years old.
Duck in Flight
Acrylic on Canvas
102 x 107 cm
The Red Barron
Ink on Paper
29 x 21 cm
ARAF Art Collective magazine in 2012.
Many years ago now when I was between creative roles, I worked as crew on a commercial boat on the River Thames for five months. It was a lot of fun — truly “messing about on the river.” I made many drawings during that time aboard the 150-year-old clipper. below are four from that period:
Strangely, while I was there, I worked with the granddaughter of a very important German artist who was working during the Weimar Herbert Ploberger — who happens to be a bit of an art hero of mine.
Day Trippers
Ink on paper - drawn in a diary
20 × 29 cm
These musicians were of retirement age and would play Trad Jazz whenever there was a wedding on the boat. I always enjoyed the weddings — There where many aspiring actors working as waiters, and the crew was always well-fed.
The Swanny Jazz Band
Ink on paper
21 x 42 cm
The Smoker
Biro and ink on lined paper
14 x 21 cm
This particular drawing was made from memory one evening after work. It depicts one of the skippers, George, with a customer. George had been working on the river since 1963. He loved to gossip and told fascinating stories, but he could also be quite rude to the passengers. I recall one lady asking where she should sit, to which George replied:
“Where do you think, madam — on your bottom!”
Portside George
Blue Biro on paper
21 x29 cm
The below video was filmed on the Isle Of Wight created with my brother using an iPhone 4