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Taken as a whole, the work I’ve produced over the years probably puts me in the ‘narrative camp’ as an artist, but not obviously so. To make sense of my images, you most likely need to piece them together for yourself - for me, the ongoing process in practice relying on suggestion and dislocated form to evoke multiple readings.
The starting point for a work is no less diverse. Drawn to an array of ‘subject matter’, it is the constructed world where I find my motivation lies. Life and Media, Religion and Family, Urban and Rural topography, it is things such as these which have significantly shaped who I am today, and this which acts as both subject and vehicle for the work to develop and evolve.
Without doubt, my strategies and how I respond to a piece in progress is personal, though not autobiographical in conventional understanding. For one such example, religion has been a topic I have returned to time and again, though I hold no religious beliefs myself. Rather, the subject explores my encounters and profound response to the daily rituals experienced, having lived with those I have been deeply involved with over the years who live with strong beliefs themselves.
All in all, the initial motivation for a piece will remain and develop but more often than not, be shrouded in ongoing inquiry , guiding the dialogue back and forth until a wider cultural perspective emerges.
national awards
2021 Arts Council England - Developing Your Creative Practice Grant
2016 National Open Contemporary Portrait Awards . The Biscuit Factory . First Prize
1997 BP International Portrait Award . Short-listed for First Prize . Awarded Commendation
1995 BP International Portrait Award . Short-listed for First Prize . Awarded Commendation
1995/98 Northern Arts Awards for Artists
1985 Backhouse Prize for Drawing . First Prize
selected exhibitions
2020 N E - BODY - The Aviary - Newcastle
2016 - OPEN CONTEMPORARY PORTRAIT AWARDS - The Biscuit Factory - Newcastle
2012 - FEAR and LOSS – Videos from the Melodrama series – 67B Gallery – Newcastle
2010 - LOST and FOUND – Videos from the Melodrama series - Campbell Park – Milton Keynes
2009 - POLISH PHOTOS . Hanger 51 in conjunction with the Ouesburn Trust Volunteers . Newcastle
2007 - STARY KRAJOBRAZ – NOWY PEJZAŻ - EDGE OF PERFECTION [solo] . Filharmonic . Podlaska . Białystok, Poland
2004 - LA PETITE MORT [solo] . the GALLERY . Huntingdon
2002 - ROYAL SOCIETY of PORTRAIT PAINTERS . Mall Galleries . London
2001 - BP PORTRAIT AWARDS: National Portrait Gallery . London
The New Millennium Gallery . Sheffield
1999 - VITAL ART . e1 Gallery . @ Gallery 77 . Cowcross Street . London
1999 - THE PEOPLE'S SHOW - University Gallery - Newcastle
1999 - LOCAL AMNESIA [solo] . Laing Art Gallery . Newcastle
1999 - SELF PORTRAIT . The Brewery Gallery . Kendal
1999 - NEWCASTLE X . University of Northumbria . Newcastle
1998 - BP PORTRAIT AWARDS: National Portrait Gallery . London
Aberdeen Art Gallery . Aberdeen.
1998 - MYTHICAL REALISM . e1 Gallery . @ Coningsby Gallery . London
1997 - FABULOUS TRANSGRESSIONS . Vardy Gallery . Sunderland
1997 - BP PORTRAIT AWARDS: National Portrait Gallery . London
Aberdeen Art Gallery . Aberdeen
Ulster Museum . Belfast
Vardy Gallery . Sunderland
1996 - BP PORTRAIT AWARDS: National Portrait Gallery . London
Aberdeen Art Gallery . Aberdeen
1995 - JOHN MOORES, EXHIBITION 19 - Walker Gallery - Liverpool l
1995 - BP PORTRAIT AWARDS: National Portrait Gallery . London
Aberdeen Art Gallery . Aberdeen
1994 - FROM A NEW CITY . Washington Arts Centre . Washington
1994 - THE EQUIVOCAL SELF [solo] . University of Northumbria MA Shows . Newcastle
1993 - LAING ART PRIZE . University Gallery . Newcastle
1993 - DAS LAND [solo] . Simmons - Anderson - Ramshaw . Sunderland
1992 - NORTHERN PSYCHE [4 person show] . Gray Gallery . Hartlepool
1992 - THE ROMANTIC BODY [solo] . Capers Gallery . Sunderland
1991 - LANDSCAPES . ART ON LOAN II . Northern Centre for Contemporary Art . Sunderland
1990 - NEW BRITISH ART: Blue Stone Gallery . Anchusa U.S.A.
1990 - ARTISTS AT THE BUNKER [3 person show] . Middlesbrough Art Gallery . Middlesbrough
1988 - ART IN SUNDERLAND . Sunderland Museum & Art Gallery . Sunderland
1987 - PORTRAITS . ART ON LOAN I . Northern Centre for Contemporary Art . Sunderland
work held in public collections @
Tyne and Wear Museums & Art Galleries
University of Sunderland
Sunderland Town Hall & Civic Centre
European Union Government Buildings, Brussels
university education
2002 - Cambridge University - Homerton . PGCE Design and Technology
(left due to finances)
1994 - University of Northumbria . MA Fine Art
1985 - Sunderland Polytechnic . BA (Hon) Fine Art (2-1)
1982 - Sunderland Polytechnic . Foundation Studies, Art & Design (A)
short biography
1960 Born 4 April, Monkwearmorth, Sunderland.
1964-76 Early education in Sunderland.
1976-80 Worked in various lines of work with the lumber company Armstrong Addison and Co Sunderland.
1981-82 Foundation Year at Sunderland School of Art specializing in sculpture under Liz Tate, Roy Chapman, Peter Smith and Ian Spencer.
1982-85 Studied Fine Art at Sunderland School of Art, continuing to specialize in sculpture till a second year move into painting. Final degree in painting. Tutors included Barry Hirst, Alan Williams and Ellie Bowan
1985 First studio in Villias Street, Sunderland.
1987 In association with Northern Arts participated in a government lead scheme to run projects designed to place practicing artists in main stream schools for short but sustained periods - the main aim to develop more understanding of contemporary art practice and the role this plays in society.
1988 Second studio at The Bunker, Stockton Road, Sunderland. Along with artists Simon Jackson, Gavin Watson and financial backing from Sunderland Youth Employment Project helped set up Artists at the Bunker, a venture intended to provide affordable studio space for recent graduates.
1989 Completed first major body of work to be shown the following year at Middlesbrough Art Gallery and again with additions two years later entitled The Romantic Body at The Bunker itself.
1988-90 Part time supplementary employment teaching Graphic Design at Monkwearmouth College Sunderland.
1989-90 Part time supplementary employment teaching Painting and Drawing at South Tyneside College, South Shields.
1991 Along with Pam Hutchinson and the backing of Northern Arts, instrumental in developing Capers at The Bunker in Sunderland as a temporary venue to run a limited program of exhibitions.
1992-94 Masters in Fine Art at Northumbria University: Research resulted in two papers entitled Vasectomy on Canvas, and Titled. Final MA Show The Equivocal Self consisting of painted plaster on board included works Distressed Venus and Model Adonis...Tutors included Lloyd Gibson and David Dye.
1994 Entered the BP National Portrait Awards held annually at the National Portrait Gallery for the first time. Short-listed for first prize and won a commendation with the portrait of Art Historian Elisa Oliver.
1995 Visiting Lecturer (Freelance) at Newcastle College.
1995 Moved to Newcastle and rented third studio at City Studios.
1998 Short-listed for the second time for the BP National Portrait Awards and once again attained a commendation with the portrait of ceramic artist Christina Kirk.
1998 Taken up by e1 Gallery in London.
1999 First major solo exhibition Local Amnesia, The Laing, Newcastle.
1999 Badly assaulted for a second time and spent three weeks in intensive care with severe head and facial injuries. The experience left a lasting physical and emotional effect which still often informs the work.
2002 Moved to Cambridgeshire to be closer to London and take up a place at Cambridge University.
2002-03 Taught Painting and Drawing at Huntingdonshire Regional College
2002-04 Joined Trilogy Laser Craft in Huntingdon where a number of new projects were began in video and work developed using the company's high-tech laser equipment.
2004 Moved to Warsaw, Poland where the work developed slowly - taking on board living in a new country and culture.
2008 Moved back to the UK where I continued to develop work based on my encounters (especially religious ritual) while living in Poland, expanding interests in a variety of disciplines including painting, digital art, photography, video and writing.
2017 Suffered a cerebral bleed with the resulting life saving surgery revealing a large brain tumour - successfully partly removed. Working through PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) remains a difficult daily undertaking,, but with some adjustments in my working processes, a return to painting (part cathartic - necessarily vital) has been the outcome whereby to the current day the work continues to develop.
2021 Awarded 'Developing Your Creative Practice' grant from Arts Council England.
2022 Moved studio and home, remaining in Newcastle where work and experimentation has led to great strides in develpoping a new body of work and making contacts in the UK and across the globe, including special relationships with exciting, contemporary artists in the United States.