The people portraits are about identifying groups of people and focusing on their individuality within a collective whole. I will often reduce their facial portrait to a minimum of lines according to how our eyes physically read and commute the information to the brain.
While I was developing workshops and hands on art installations for partially sighted groups, I wanted to try to understand the diversity of visual impairment. With the assistance of Professor Burnstock at UCL Neurology Department I investigated how the eye works and how it transfers the image to the visual cortex. I developed the style of portrait drawings and paintings from this study. All my portrait paintings are an impression of how our eyes actually read a face. The eyeball moves – ciccades – very quickly deciphering points of light and shadow. A defining tracking system in perpetual motion.
‘Paparazzi Portraits’ are a series of unsolicited paintings of individuals. The Sensation set are 15 paintings of some of the artist who exhibited at the Sensation Exhibition. Their work has influenced my own with regard to quality, content and execution. The portraits include Fiona Rae, Marc Quinn, Tracey Emin, Chris Ofili, Hirst.
‘Ball Kickers’: I produced forty four portraits of current and past football players to exhibit during the 2000 world cup. This included a number of world class women players. In the States and Canada women soccer players earn more than any English premier league player and have crowds of up to 90,000 to watch a game. The work was shown simultaneously at two venues and paintings transferred from one venue to the other. The preview was organised with the help of a Double Decker travelling between the two galleries, reminiscent of a victory bus seen in the same area when Arsenal win a cup. I have produced many commissions for people of their favourite players and teams.