"Girl with a Lizard Tattoo" Artwork

I’m a collage artist based near Portsmouth, where I also teach part time and manage the art curriculum. When I’m not teaching, I’m usually in my studio, surrounded by paper and trying to justify keeping yet another magazine.
I work mainly with cut and torn imagery from magazines and books, combining collage with acrylics, spray paint, pastels and pens. Travel is a huge source of inspiration and often sparks a new direction in my work. A visit to Japan several years ago began an obsession with Hokusai, while a Basquiat exhibition at the Barbican, around the same time, sealed an unlikely pairing that is never far from my mind. More recently, a trip to Copenhagen and visits to its design and architecture museums have inspired a growing fascination with architectural forms, pattern and structure.
I love the freedom of collage — bringing together things that perhaps shouldn’t belong together, but somehow do. Fragments of art history, travel, nostalgia, landscapes, people, colour and the occasional bit of visual chaos can all end up in the same piece. I’m interested in creating layered, playful images that reveal something new the closer you look.
My work is represented by UK galleries Paxton+Glew, Turner Art Perspective and Joy Fantastic, and has been exhibited at the Affordable Art Fair and The Other Art Fair.