Don't cry little bear, your heart is lit Painting

I am a multidisciplinary British artist with an honors degree in Sculpture, from Chelsea College of Art and Design in London, and a National Diploma in foundation studies from Central Martin’s College of Art and Design, London, in the United Kingdom. At the age of 8 years old I was commissioned to design magazine advertisements for my parents’ shoe shop, where I also held exhibitions of my landscape paintings inspired by my early travels. At 14 years old, I was commissioned to paint a 30-foot mural for the Riverside Tennis Club, and in 1988 I held my first group exhibition at London’s Richmond Hill Gallery. The exhibition, centered on the theme of professional sports, was held during the revered Wimbledon tennis tournament, and my portrait of Patrick Hart Cash garnered local media attention when he won the men’s singles tournament. My professional journey began in France, where I explored traditional landscape painting and participated in a series of group exhibitions in Grau du Roi, Célas, and Vezenobres in the Languedoc-Roussillon region. My influences during this time were mostly from the impressionists, Cézanne, Matisse, and Monet. The realist style I developed and nurtured during this time caught the attention of the London-based Jim Henson Company’s Creature Shop, which lead to the beginning of a 17-year career in film and TV working as a sculptor, special effects and prosthetic make-up artist, model maker and set sculptor. My work with hyper-realism and illusion can be seen in major productions, including Chris Columbus’s “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” (2001), Tim Burton’s “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” (2005), Bryan Singer’s “X-Men 3: The Last Stand” (2006) and “X-Men: Days of Future Past” (2012). In 2005, I immigrated to Canada, and after working in the Canadian film industry for 7 years, I decided to establish an artists studio in Montreal and resume my painting career. This lead to the creation of “Life in Every breath”, a tribute to the warrior culture of the Bushido, whose core values highlight the discipline which frames my work as an artist. The triptych, with its hand-crafted custom solid oak frame, was featured at the exhibition “Ode Edo” (Smash Gallery, Toronto). From my reflections on contemporary American society was born pieces such as “The Rancid Feast” and “The Loss of Innocence”.