about

For the last 20 years I have lived and worked in the Five Valleys District of Stroud in Gloucestershire, England. I have a studio on the side of a steep hill overlooking panoramic views of the Golden Valley. Which is probably why there are so many diagonals in my paintings. And no horizontals. Or horizons.

For many years I painted nothing but landscapes but after a trip to China in 2008 I decided I couldn't ignore people any longer so began to let a few into my pictures. At first I included a few dog walkers and ramblers but very quickly the paintings became completely overcrowded.

The paintings in The CrowdingAbout Series use a formula I call 'human isometry.' They are composed using isometric grids similar to those used in 3D design, architectural plans and in game design. The advantage of these grids is that you can map out objects and environments without the changes of scale inherent in traditional perspective.

Isometric drawing is ‘distance-preserving’ in that everything within it is drawn to scale in relation to everything else; nothing is fore-grounded or placed in the background. There is no vanishing point. The picture appears to go on for infinity in every direction.

I like to think my paintings attempt to humanise the isometric view of the world. By using individual people as motifs in a repeat pattern I depict the overall movement of a human crowd whilst retaining the individuality of each participant.

On one level these crowds are an expression of uniformity - some individuals stand out - but on the whole the people are all wearing the same stuff and doing the same activity, and this is I think what makes them work as colourful, semi-abstract patterns. But look closer at these paintings and you can see a huge variety of characters, gestures and expressions among these figures. As in any human crowd, there is a fine balance between communality and individuality. Between the many and the one.

Comparisons have been made with Breugel, Hogarth Escher and Lowry. These are all valid, important influences on my work, however I like to think I am re-inventing the genre of crowd scenes for the twenty-first century.


Education

1976-77 Foundation Course, Kingston University
1977-80 BA Degree: Fine Art, University of Brighton
1986-87 PGCE, Middlesex University
1996-98 MA Fine Art & Media, University of Gloucestershire


Group Exhibitions

1977 Foundation show, Kingston
1980 Degree show, Brighton
1984 The 1984 Show, Brixton Art Gallery
1989 Cotswold Connections, Red Herring Gallery, Brighton
1991 Clay Bodies, Workshop Gallery, Chepstow
1992 Melksham Court, Stinchcombe
1992 National Garden Festival, Ebbw Vale
1993 International Garden festival, Stuttgart
1995-6 One From the Heart, Aberystwyth Arts Centre
1997 Interim MA Show, University of Gloucestershire
1998 MA Show, University of Gloucestershire
1999 Ida Branson Bequest, Atkinson Gallery, Street
2004 GANET show, Guildhall Arts Centre, Gloucester
2005 Nailsworth Festival, Gloucestershire
2006 Open Studios, Oxford Artweeks
2007 Venice, Fusion Gallery, Wotton-u-Edge
2009 ByLocal, Regency Arcade, Cheltenham

Solo Exhibitions

1983 CND Bookshop, Finsbury Park, London
1985 Foxes Wine Bar, Stoke Newington, London
1985 Clissold Swimming Pool, Stoke Newington
1986 Housing Office, Stamford Hill, London
1986 St Leonard’s Hospital, Hackney, London
1987 North Street Potters, Clapham, London
1988 Showcase Exhibition, Prema Arts Centre, Uley, Gloucestershire
1993 Clay Bodies, Prema Arts Centre
2010 Guildhall Arts Centre

1998-2010 Selling paintings, prints and cards through local shops and galleries as well as Annual Open Studio as part of Stroud SITE visual arts festival