Geography Lesson Artwork

ARTIST STATEMENT. It’s easiest if I begin by telling you how I start, from a white canvas, laid flat. In less than five minutes, the whole surface is covered in thick oil paint, some of it squeezed in bold sweeps straight from the fat tubes. At some point sand gets added, either from a salt shaker, or sprinkled with a teaspoon. This all gets mixed up until no gaps are left. Then I have to stop, so as not to dissipate the initial energy and roughed-up surface. I leave it. For two weeks or more, sometimes much, much more, I let it dry, in a place where I can see it 10 times a day on my way to the kitchen or the bathroom. From the corner of my eye I see creatures and shapes jump out from the canvas. Or I might spend half an hour staring at them to pin them down. If I stare long enough, I can see many competing visions, begging for attention. And then one day, the story they are trying to tell me suddenly gels like the tea leaves at the bottom of the cup, and with a great thrill of excitement mixed with relief, I can bring that story out into the open with a minimum of brushstrokes, taking care not to beautify, or obliterate nuances of facial expressions or odd asymmetries that reveal deep stories. And that’s it. I call the process “making visible the invisible”. It’s oracular. in a way, though as to whether these stories reflect my own subconscious or preoccupations, that’s a trivial question I leave to those who enjoy delving. I feel too grateful for the inspiration they bring to query their source. BIO Born 1948. Taught by Maurice Percival and George Bland. Dissuaded from art college ("it will wreck you") because of the vogue for concept art. My painting is divided into two types: the realist side, including portraits, freeze-frames in the play of light on water, or from newsreels; and the spiritual side made up of pareidolic apparitions celebrating tall stories, love, or the world of dreams and the afterlife. Apart from painting I like to spend time learning languages, practising 3D design and honing my jazz skills on the wholetone panpipes and 5-string violin. My paintings tell stories. To tell a story well within the static medium of paint, you need to seize the instant at the right moment. I like to scavenge frames from online videos and dwell on those pregnant instants which sum up a whole situation.