Artist Statement

Photo: Angus Stewart

'For me, the rendering of realism is a craft,
the art begins when I destroy it'

The Human form, in particular the portrait, and a compulsive enquiry of matter fuels my creativity, often using a material’s history or experience to lead a sculptural investigation.
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My work is concerned with identity and a personal obsession of revealing the concealed, exposing the discarded and the overlooked, repairing the broken and exploring ideas of duality. 
I try to translate an inner being through a disrupted surface, creating new and different visual conversations.
Processes of destruction and repair investigate aspects of trauma and healing, rejuvenation and change. 
Ideas of displacement, migration and journey are repeating elements threading through my work.

The formality of ancient Egyptian art, the classicism of Bernini, the madness of Messerschmitt, 
philosophy and allegory are my inspirations.


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Inside Out represents a path of self-criticism; where I have lain bare a fragility and resilience for all to see, seeking to challenge the traditional Academic establishment’s hierarchy of art principles and aesthetics of portrait sculpture.
Perfect Imperfection - The Art of Healing explores the fragility and resilience of the human condition through the violated materiality of the sculpted portrait.
Migrant Material - Connecting Matter With Being A Close examination of exhumed sub terrain material led to questions of our relationship with and connections to the earth and its contents; its changing climates and shifting terrain.