Drawings and studies of movement.
Charcoal and rubber on paper.
Here I am.
It’s 1997 and I’m breakdancing in the Tufnell Park Graffiti Hall of Fame, reliving my eighties childhood. I’ve come down here with a pal who’s taking some photographs.
These photos went onto become the paintings that made my first solo show after leaving art school - held at the Levi’s flagship Store in London’s Regent Street.
They also featured in one of the first books to document the street art and graffiti at the time - ‘Scrawl: Strange graphics and dirty characters’ by Ric Blackshaw.
An evening stroll through the back streets of London with Caravaggio for company.
All drawings - charcoal and rubber on paper.
@Pure Evil Gallery, 2015.
I nailed a bit of meat to my studio wall and took it from there.
Paintings and sketches, oil on board.
Solo show @ Pure Evil Gallery, 2015
A series of drawings based on photographs by Jon Cartwright, who organised and curated this show.
The feeling of isolation and loneliness felt by the elderly, who are faced with the prospect of dying alone without any friends or family to care for them, is often given little thought. In partnership with the charity Age Concern, this exhibition brought that to the fore.
All drawings - charcoal and rubber.
‘Generations’
@Saatchi Gallery, 2012
Assorted paintings on boards, canvases and walls.
What began as an experiment with a stick of charcoal and some fluorescent yellow paint ended up becoming a bit of a number. I hate the colour but context is everything. After using it in my drawings I took the concept of hi-viz vests one step further and purchased a roll of the reflective material to paint on. This had some interesting effects when photographed with a flash.
I was initially captivated by the spectacle of school children caught up in the student riots of 2010. This was soon followed early in 2011 with the Stokes Croft riots in Bristol. Just a few months later, sparked by the death of Mark Duggan, London and much of the UK was in the grip of one of the greatest acts of civil disobedience seen since the Poll Tax riots.
I am endebted to my photojournalist friend David Hoffman, a hardened veteran of protest, who has captured many of the images from which I have worked.