Artist Statement
I am persuaded that the dream world is more real than the conscious world. I have been recording my dreams since I was a child; these dreams are so real to me that they are more vivid than the conscious visual world. In my dreams I can sometimes manipulate the events, being conscious that it is a dream. Many of the dreams have a humorous and often bizarre element to them. Once an idea exists in my mind it is real, but only once it is communicated through a visual means (painting, sketching, sculpting or writing) can others also participate in the idea and agree that it is real. This is what I fundamentally explore in my creative process. In my prolific diaries I use objects with artistic alchemy that I've found on pavements (some would call it trash) as my inspiration; and I turn it into a treasure.
My art is surrealist in essence with elements of cubism, and it gives me much pleasure to paint with vivid colours of paint that I have made myself. With my stone sculpting I ask the stone what it wants to be and this is what I sculpt. I avoid trying to impose my ideas on the stone, this is why I enjoy working in relief as this prevents me from dominating the stone and the stone reciprocates by sympathising with me and together we make great art. In my sculpture I usually combine aspects of relief and 3 dimensional elements. I see relief sculpting as synonymous with the subconscious (an illusion) and 3 dimensional elements as synonymous with the conscious mind (realism). My work is most influenced by van Gogh, Picasso, Marc Chagall and Henry Moore.
My art is surrealist in essence with elements of cubism, and it gives me much pleasure to paint with vivid colours of paint that I have made myself. With my stone sculpting I ask the stone what it wants to be and this is what I sculpt. I avoid trying to impose my ideas on the stone, this is why I enjoy working in relief as this prevents me from dominating the stone and the stone reciprocates by sympathising with me and together we make great art. In my sculpture I usually combine aspects of relief and 3 dimensional elements. I see relief sculpting as synonymous with the subconscious (an illusion) and 3 dimensional elements as synonymous with the conscious mind (realism). My work is most influenced by van Gogh, Picasso, Marc Chagall and Henry Moore.