Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your background as an artist?
It all started in Kent – “The Garden of England” – where I was born and raised. I was lucky enough to have grown up with green spaces which meant that I was able to find inspiration from nature and organic matter. My earliest work focused a lot on the natural world combined with the metaphysical, and from there it’s progressed to where it is now. I’m part of a trio of siblings who are also artists which I find funny as my parents, although are creative in their own right, aren’t artists.
Can you tell us about the title of the show: ‘Earth Eater’ - what resonance does this phrase have for you?
Earth Eater felt like the right title, as the show is about the evolution of earth and the part that humans have to play as it evolves. It highlights the cycle of consumption between Earth and all that is on it and the balance that is needed for both to function coherently.
With large, sweeping lines and geometrical, interlocking shapes, it seems that some of your works are entering into the realm of the abstract. Could you tell us a bit about what inspired this development?
It’s come about as quite a slow, natural progression, that is now taking off quite fast. I’ve been finding that my figurative works aren’t fully expressing what I’m trying to portray. The more abstract works, which I see as more abstruse than abstract, are a vessel for the energies I’m trying to emit. As with these works, there aren’t any instant connotations that resemble aspects of everyday life such as an animal or person. So we don’t readily subject the paintings to be defined by that single element, it frees the painting off all connections that a figure would, which in turn, changes its energy completely. As it's an entirely abstract/abstruse image, it has the potential to carry a lot of different and more streamlined energies that align more with what I’m trying to convey.
Your new, more abstract pieces almost seem to radiate a sense of blooming, warmth and pulsing, vibrating energy. Previously you have discussed how you like your paintings to emit this feeling of ‘spreading.’ Could you explain this a little bit?
When it comes to these works, I’m trying to offer the viewer the chance to accept energies passed onto them, such as love, light and balance. I believe that energy can be moved, spread and stored by our own will. So these works are an early experiment in learning how to do this. Even if this is not felt consciously immediately, it’s an attempt to figure out how to transmit energies consciously on a more separate level rather than one that is perceived immediately by the mind.
Throughout your practice, you are often drawn to depicting wild animals. In each painting, their bodies are often deconstructed and changed so that they resemble mythological beasts (like Cerberus with its three heads). These animals seem to be in a shifting state of metamorphosis or ‘becoming.’ Could you tell us a little bit about how the animal kingdom inspires your practice and the ways in which you transform these animals on the canvas?
Over time, the animals have become personifications of the themes within my work. Previous animals have represented death and have been depicted close to or at the moment they die. However, in Earth Eater they have become a symbol of change, renewal, chaos and fear. I think putting an expression and narrative onto animals has a different mental effect than what a human expression would. The human face is too attached to our perception of things and is often overlooked, and ignored as they are so common to see. Whereas an animal, especially a rare, mythological or near extinct one, humans tend to be attracted to them. They are often seen as more important and looked upon as something to protect.
In the exhibition text for the show, the mythological figure of the Phoenix is mentioned. What is it about the Phoenix that has inspired ‘Earth Eater’ and why have you chosen to depict it within your work?
I chose to paint Earth is a Phoenix and we are Amongst its Flames because it offers a balance of optimism that hopes to meet the moment for the viewer in the current socio-political climate and the state of Earth. It acts as a reminder to myself and a request to others to seek a point of view that allows for a positive stance that embraces the unorthodox. As even amongst chaos there is a chance to find peace. This isn’t meant as an excuse to live ignorantly, without empathy, but to view particular instances and live in a positive light rather than a negative lense that is consistently imposed upon us through the media, so that we can see earth and everything on it rise out of its ashes and flourish.
Previously you have expressed your admiration for the work of Hilma Af Klint; what is it about Klint’s works that inspire your practice?
I think the reason I love her work is that it ticks all the boxes, its spiritual, mysterious and has soul. Her Paintings for the Temple series was started before all the ‘big boys’ of painting were pioneering abstraction. I think she stands up taller than her contemporaries and in my opinion created far more advanced and interesting work. I love the mystery behind it all, how she was commissioned through séance to create the series and then it wasn’t released to the public until the 80’s, 60 years after its completion. It’s like a story, but true. The main inspiration I’ve gotten from her work though is automatic drawing, which I’ve really honed in on in recent years and now it’s at the core of all my practice.
At your studio, we discussed how you intend your paintings to be “illuminatory” or “revelatory” experiences. How do your artistic processes and techniques create this sensation?
I try to input as much energy into the paintings as possible during and after their creation. Initially like all works of art, some of it naturally comes from the pleasure, love and emotions felt as I paint that manifest into the work. But my main focus is on transference of the energies mentioned in question 4. I try to ‘charge’ the paintings with these energies, to have a greater effect and transpose these uplifting feelings onto the viewer. This is done with similar techniques to meditations where you consciously move and manipulate energy.
