Andrew Gruffudd

Painter, composer, sculptor, poet, writer and press mogul. Petrol head, political animal, subversive, genius and legend. Pagan, historian, keeper of the Sacred Flame of the Old Ways and occasional table (well, sometimes the drinks are on me. And sometimes they are all over me...)

My art is generally driven by a desire to relay the mythological and history as it relates to the Prittanic isle; so while Titian may paint "The Rape of Europa", Sebastiano del Piombo "The Death of Adonis" and countless other old Masters plunder ancient Graeco-Roman and Egyptian mythology, my muse is far closer to home - amongst grossly neglected ancient British pantheons, in fact. Thus, when you see Ceridwen, the Goddess of Inspiration, chasing down Gwion Bach, you can be inspired to chase down the story to which it relates. I put flesh on the story of Boudica, warrior Queen of the Iceni and very nearly vanquish of the Romans but for a slight but fateful tactical error; so while her mortal remains may never be discovered, unless someone decides whether the platform of King's Cross or the crossroads further up-country retains that glory, we may at least have something of her likeness. But also I have work on the go which are just bits of mental fl...

My art comes from the university of life rather than any formal training. True, the structures of artistic form, why Dali paints the way he does, what inspired Picasso's foray into Cubism, how Dadaism came about and why critics reckoned JMW Turner's watercolour paintings of Venice were done using a floor mop - all this is salient, but so is my wild, untutored (relatively), artistically free mind.

Of course, neither does it hurt to have une grand dame d'art for a mother...