Lovers Kissing Drawing

I was born in the UK in 1958. I discovered my love for art very early in life: the individuality of creating something unique and using my creativity to satisfy no one but myself. At the young age I came upon a torn and mud-covered adult magazine in a dirt track road on my way to school. I was fascinated by the way the dishevelled state of the magazine compromised the nude figure and the torn, crumpled image twisted and disjointed the image creating repulsive / beautiful and fascinating imagery of duality. Later in life I applied to Saint Martin’s School of Art, London. Everyone advised against such a bold move, as it was considered the best in Europe. Preparing myself for rejection I received an unexpected response: “Due to outstanding potential you have been accepted to join the course”. Erotica re-entered my life, though not through the eyes of a boy peering down at a risqué magazine in a muddy puddle this time, but through those of an adult with an art degree, an open mind and a tendency to side with the marginalised and oppressed. Although championed and highly influenced by my tutor, Allen Reynolds – who encouraged my early hard edged, geometric work – my experiences in Soho steered me in the direction of my true artistic calling: Figure painting. The creative freedom allowed at Saint Martins spurred me on to seek evermore learning and London’s Soho offered exactly that. It was the 70s, Punk Rock just beginning and I was in the thick of interesting times. Ideal for an artist starting on the path of discovery. I frequented nightclubs, drinking bars and music venues in the underbelly of Soho, London, this was my education, meeting up with a diverse spectrum of people on the fringes of society cementing my fascination with such society and humanity in all its facets. I entering a strange world of gangsters, sex clubs, sex workers and drinking dens developing an empathy for the marginalised, although I was much less enamoured by the world of thugs and gangsters. Post St Martin's I was unsatisfied with classic life drawing and desiring something different, I created my own life drawing group that openly engaged in the exploration of a wide array of modelling and fetishes, little knowing that this group would cause such a stir! I attracted international press and TV appearances; invitations to judge Art / Photography competitions.