FERAL FAC ON THE HUANGPU RIVER Print

Born at Bushmills on the north coast of Ireland. Lifetime of full time professional involvement in fine art / editorial / location photography, publishing, cultural interpretation, audio-visual multimedia and whiskey. Main inspiration from the ancient world, the modern world, the land, people and whiskey. From Shanghai to New Orleans, Finland to Nigeria. Mostly as a wide-eyed hobo. Recipient of the Northern Gas / Northern Arts Photography Fellowship - at the time the richest fine art photography award in Europe. Recipient of 2 Gulbenkian Foundation Awards - one for fine art printmaking, one for audio-visual installation of Ancient Scotland. In my personal work I am not a purist photographer but photography has long been my tool of choice because of its fundamental and inescapable grounding in reality which I see as the generator of all imagination. The beauty of the finely crafted classical monochrome print is undeniable but many years ago I tired of the puritanism which I felt deadened the delight of discovery. The Zen of it all might leave the photographer enhanced but to the viewer such images too often seem to decrease and recede into the perfection of technique rather than into the expansion of vision. A rose is a rose is a rose but its mazing scent and its thorn against the breast conjure danger and complexity seldom embraced by the purist. Journeying in the craftwork of a pedigreed train is best felt when it bursts out of the tunnel into expanding colour and light - and when you can drive your own discoveries beyond the tracks laid down by the agenda of others. The freedom of a child to be lost without fear. I like the fascination of occlusions in my optics rather than the predictable perfection of well-behaved mathematics. Seduction and possibility hold more attraction than purity and certainty. In many of the works shown here I have developed the luscious micro detail which makes these images best viewed as larger prints. I use this energetic texture to challenge the perception - from where are realities derived - to where are they projected? My path explores form, colour, surface levels and possible meanings. I push off from the shore but leave the journey to the winds and to the tides. The concept of destination is something I have never understood. I am looking to create sideways glances rather than documents or statements. The glimmer intrusions of parallel worlds.