Born in Maldon, Essex, England in 1965. I spent my childhood in the nearby village of Goldhanger- a great place, by a river estuary, and with a population of just 700.

I am a bit different to the others.

I've always been an artist- it is what I was born to be.
I was described as 'a dreamer' whilst at school, and was often caught gazing out of windows. I can't remember what I was looking at, but if they don't want you to gaze out of them, they shouldn't make them so clear.

I began my time at art college in 1985, and set out to be increasingly 'contemporary' in my output. I was often engaged in setting fire to my work, or raiding skips to gain materials to work with. I preferred to create art from less obvious materials than others. I was keen to attempt to be as innovative as possible, whilst paying homage to all those great artists who came before. It seems easy to slag them all off, but they are not the enemy of contemporary artists of today.

I am very much a contemporary of the likes of Damien Hurst (also born 1965), but whilst he (and the others we've heard of) attended London colleges, I preferred to go to one near the sea. I like water...

Anyway, I've created art for many years, and have remained inspired by a variety of diverse materials (yes, you can be inspired by materials). Transient art can often be better than art that sits there forever saying nothing. On the flip side, art that sits there forever can often say more than transient 'art' that is high on concept and low on expression. So I do both.

I have influences that include: Kurt Schwitters, Antoni Tapies, Jean Tinguely, the Boyle Family, Pablo Picasso. Others I appreciate include: Andy Goldsworthy (the true 'great' of British Art today), Arman, David Nash, Marc Chagall, Jackson Pollock etc. Pretty varied, but somehow linked in my head.

I have always been inspired by destruction as a form of creation, and hence a lot of my collage/constructions have been based on the natural deterioration of our man-made surroundings.

Alongside all of this, I have been making art that includes clocks. I enjoy the use of moving parts. Art should sometimes move. We do.

I am a collector of great projects I'll never get the chance to even begin. I will leave a book behind when I die, full of ridiculous art concepts; but then again... I probably won't!

I like the Northern Renaissance and have been doing some work relating this style to issues concerning us today (via paintings).

But this year, for the first time I've realised that I need to be a bit more commercial, and hence have begun working on 'things that might sell'! I'm in the process of setting up 'Genes Curios', which will be a website from which I'll sell loads of different genealogy products, which'll include unusual family trees, books, etc. etc. & prints from various artists. If you are interested in creating an unusual family tree/chart that can be included for sale as prints/originals on my site, I'd love to hear from you. The new website will launch in January/February 2011.

We all need something nice to look at.

Ian Moss