Side Tracked Painting

Being a child of the Mid Century, I've held a lifelong fascination with Modernist design and hope my work continues to convey that era's strong sense of optimism, happiness and fun, traits that are somewhat lacking in these current times. This is an area I have been exploring in my practice since the 1970's, using traditional techniques and equipment from my background in drafting to create hard edged geometric paintings and modernist style prints that explore tricks of the eye. Designed to both amuse and intrigue, they also reflect my long term career in performing Magic and Illusion shows. The paintings include a planned element of surprise or visual deception, and often a perception of movement that is either subtle or quite bold. Music is also important to me while I paint and this is often reflected in the rhythms, structure and composition of the works and sometimes in the titles. Vibrant colours, bold patterns and music can all take your mind to another state and if I can take the viewer to a happier more optimistic place or perhaps to see a sense of order in a world of chaos, then I've performed for them a different kind of magic.