About Me
I have created Art for more than fifty years. The four years at the Byam Shaw School of Art in London in the late 60s were an interesting time. The role of the art school had changed. Instead of being a place for teaching art it had become a place of workshops under the guidance of mentors. Being faced with so much creative freedom was daunting. The melting pot of the Byam Shaw drew in art students from all over the globe and with Modern Art having come to an end leaving in its wake a wealth of ideas and approaches, the confusion about where art would go next was fuelled by the many imported ideas from America, Europe, Africa and Australia. As a result, I never adhered to one style or a way of working but looked to create a personal set of motifs and symbols based upon the way I saw the world. Drawing has always been integral to my practise.
“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes. Always try to keep a patch of sky above your life”
Marcel Proust
Thematically, I have always drawn from my life. That is not to say that the works are illustrations so much as the way small moments in time are starting points for exploration. A painting such as Incident on Coro was the result of meeting a cyclist in the rain and dark on a narrow road where only his lights were visible through the windscreen. He was on the wrong side of road. Paintings can contain flattened areas, symbols, textured areas and figurative elements. Much recent work has had a strong linear emphasis with extreme tonal contrast. I have mostly employed a square format to remove the idea of a dominant edge and the idea of a canvas as a window, but the recent serial paintings revolve around perceptions of time that may resemble film strips. The addition of text in these works is not new and instances of the use of text can be traced back to the 60s.
The influences on my style reveal a great deal. There is inevitably a figurative element but in the late 60s it was from the mark makers such as Pollock, Kline, Jacklin, Twombly and Hoffman that I drew inspiration. My English heritage encompassed Heron, Davie, Charlton for his use of grey, and Scott for his explorations. Moving to Australia in 1972 introduced me to Sampson for his invention, Whiteley for his drawing, and Perceval, Lanceley and Tuckson for the freedom of paint application. There is hardly a contemporary artist whose work has not in some way influenced my thinking.
Much of the 70s and 80s was spent making large scale steel sculpture of a figurative nature. A number of maquettes remain.
An important extension to the mediums I have employed can be found in the more than fifty original contemporary dance productions I created between 1985 and 2020. From 2008-2020 I was Artistic Director of my own company, Lift Dance Theatre. While the themes I explored were universal, the crossovers between a two-dimensional surface and a three -dimensional stage were obvious. Dancers were elements to be manipulated amid mobile and static sets. Society versus the individual and isolation were often a starting point. In Ander’rait, it was the use of human bodies as writing tools and the exploration of civilisation as a concept that drove the production. The scope of the ideas allowed for the introduction of animation, creative lighting, costume design and the opportunity to create musical scores.
I have always been a writer. My two published novels. Shadowboxing and Harold Hackett both dealt with what it means to be an artist On a weekly basis I also write and publish an article/essay on a current concern in art.
In 2016 I decided to return to studio painting and built the Vanilla Sky Studio in Blackwood, South Australia.
CV
- 1966-1970 BYAM SHAW SCHOOL OF ART, LONDON, STUDYING PAINTING
- 1974 KERNEWEK LOWENDER – PAINTED A PORTRAIT OF KING GEORGE V FOR THE BANQUET AT KADINA TOWN HALL, DESIGNED THE CARRY BAG, PROGRAM AND TELEPHONE DIRECTORY COVER.
- 1975 SOLO EXHIBITION AT WOBBLY WHEEL GALLERY, MOONTA
- 1976 GROUP EXHIBITION STATION GALLERY, MOONTA.
- 1978 ELIZABETH ART PRIZE
- 1979 ELIZABETH ART PRIZE
- 1981 SOLO EXHIBITION ELIZABETH EAST.
- 1982 SOLO EXHIBITION OF SCULPTURE AND DRAWING AT THE SALISBURY COUNCIL GALLERY.
- 1995 GROUP EXHIBITION GREENHILL GALLERY, NORTH ADELAIDE.
- 2016 SALA GROUP EXHIBITION
- 2017 SALA GROUP EXHIBITION
- 2018 SOLO EXHIBITION RED RHINO ADELAIDE,
- 2018 SALA GROUP EXHIBITION
- 2019 SOLO EXHIBITION ARTHOUSE MACLAREN VALE
- 2019 GROUP EXHIBITION BLACK CAT GALLERY MELBOURNE
- 2019 GROUP EXHIBITION IMMERSION GALLERY BRIGHTON
- 2019 SOLO EXHIBITION WOMEN AND CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL.
- 2019 SOLO EXHIBITION LAMBERT WINERY, ANGASTON
- 2020 SALA SOLO EXHIBITION, VANILLA SKY STUDIO
- 2020 MAIN GALLERY ADELAIDE GROUP EXHIBITION
- 2021 SOLO EXHIBITION ‘Phenomenon’ Main Gallery Adelaide
- 2021 SOLO EXHIBITION ‘THe Improbable Moment’ Collective Haunt Adelaide
- 2022 SOLO Exhibition ‘Doric’ Gallery M Marion cultural centre
- 2022 SOLO Exhibition ‘Myth Memory and Metamorphosis Main gallery Adelaide
- 2022 SALA open studio. ‘Anthropomorphic’ and ‘Doric”
- 2023 SALA open Studio Recent Sculpture
- 2023 Shortlisted America Art awards
- 2024 Palmer International Sculpture competition ORION
- 2024 Barossa Regional Gallery. Paintings. Conversations with my Father
- 2024 Barossa Festival. 7 Large Sculptures
- 2024 Newmarch Gallery. Conversations with my fathert, Small sculpture and drawings
- 2024 Cambelltown Arthouse Myth and Memory. Paintings and drawings
- 2024 Honourable mention Circle Magazine
- 2024 Placed 4th,5th and 6th in sculpture section of America art awards
- 2024 Fleurieu Art Prize
