Ashes to Ashes

I studied Fine Art at Newcastle and the Royal College of Art in London during the 1970s. My work then was primarily film, video and performance based. I exhibited work in galleries and festivals both nationally and internationally.

 

I started teaching art and photography and eventually trained as a teacher. A career I continued for over twenty years, whilst still retaining my involvement in art practice.

 

My desire to start painting and drawing again and to give form to my ideas evolved over a long period of time. The images and objects developed from a wide range of influences, most notably: the physical and psychological processes of Alchemy and its cultural development, aspects of archaeology, gnostic and apocalyptic texts and the poetry and prose of Franz Kafka, Robert Walser and Georg Trakl.

 

I work in both two and three dimensions using mainly materials such as ash, clay, lead, industrial paint, caustic substances, natural materials and found objects.

 

My work tends to be dark in tone and atmosphere. Much of it is completed over long periods of time as there are many processes involved. Other pieces are constructed relatively quickly and spontaneously.

 

The working process often leaves the finished work, both structure and surface, very fragile.

 

Materials are burnt, baked boiled, melted and decomposed etc. Caustic substances are added to paint and applied directly to the surface. Surfaces are left to dry and then reworked. The surface goes through many transformations. Even while drying, the colour variations continue to slowly alter, leaving the work in a constant state of impermanence and instability.

 

The sculpture pieces evolve using similar processes while using different materials. I use mainly clay, ash, wax and found objects. The ash is the detritus from old unwanted work. I am currently working on a work that comprises of unwanted personal possessions that were interred over two years ago and have recently been dug up.

 

I have noticed that the same images, subjects appear and reappear in different forms and guises. Angels, creatures, trees, mountains, suns, houses and tiny stick figures that fall from the sky or hide underground. These subjects have become almost compulsive in their inclusion. Perhaps, each piece of work reveals a small but unconscious part of a hidden narrative to which I am not privy.

 

Mixed Media

2025

Image: 30x43cm

Framed:45x63cm

Framed under glass