Bio

My earliest artistic influences were comic art, the Beano, 2000AD and Asterix. I also loved discovering the work of Druillet and Moebius in Metal Hurlant magazine. Childhood visits to National Trust properties like Chatsworth House and the Reader’s Digest books on the shelves at home gave me an early taste for renaissance and classical art. As a young teen, the iconoclasm of punk rock was a big influence that opened up new ways of looking at the world.

I was very lucky to have studied at Goldsmiths with many other artists who went on to become well known, such as Sarah Lucas, Michael Landy, Angela Bullock, and Damien Hurst. Sharing ideas and getting inspired by other artists was very beneficial, even though the general trend at the time was towards conceptualism.

These days, I’m confident to follow my own artistic path, feeling more affinity to the outsider artists and graffiti artists that work in my neighbourhood of Stokes Croft than the hardcore conceptualists who exhibit down the road at the Arnolfini. If forced to find a genre to put myself in I would have to suggest Urban Baroque. 

 

Education

  • 2002 Foundation in Adult Education Teaching (FAETC)
  • 1999-2000 HNC New Media: City of Bristol College
  • 1985-1988 BA Degree Fine Art: Goldsmiths College, London
  • 1984-1985 Foundation Art and Design: Filton Technical College, Bristol
  • 1977-1982 Cotham Grammar School, Bristol

Exhibitions