I have been painting images of newspaper clippings for about four years now. They came to prominence in my work following 9/11, the day of my MA graduation, when I showed a painting of Bin Laden pointing a gun at a triumphant George Bush. It had been painted about a month previously. The use of newspaper clippings provides a very flat spatial field, recalls certain trompe l’oile 17th century still life and can deal directly with contemporary issues such as cloning and terrorism. These are contemporary manifestations of the timeless themes of birth and death. Recently I have been working on an ongoing, and never ending, series of obituaries. Obituaries condense a life into a few column inches and a single image – a scrap of newsprint that becomes a heavy token, a memento, even an icon, when rendered in paint.
The act of painting and therefore sustained concentration brings a degree of focus and depth to what otherwise would be fleeting moments in the press.
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Education
2000 - 2001 MA Painting, City and Guilds of London Art School
1975 - 1978 BA Painting, Chelsea School of Art
Selected Solo Shows
2004 Sartorial Art, London
2004 Three Colts Gallery, London
2001 The Foundry, London
Selected Group Shows
2006 'Beyong the Grave', Sartorial Art, London
2006 'Jerusalem', Dean Clough Galleries, Halifax
2005 'Fuckin' Brilliant',Tokyo Wonder Site, Tokyo
2005 'Art News', Raid Projects, Los Angeles
2005 Keith Talent Gallery, London
2005 'USUK',Lab Gallery, New York
2005 'Green Door',Sartorial Art, London
2004 'Forest', Rockwell Gallery, London
2004 Three Colts Gallery, London
2004 Plus One Plus Two Gallery, London
2003 'Chockafukingblocked', Jeffery Charles Gallery, London
2002 'Yesteryearnowadays', Hales Gallery, London
Curated Shows
2004 'Art News', Three Colts Gallery, London
2005 Raid Projects, Los Angeles:
'Art News' contemporary artists working with newspaper: Martin Creed, Amikam Toren, Gordon Cheung, Louise Hopkins,Hugh Mendes, Kim Rugg, Alex Hamilton, Chris Cook,Melanie Jackson, Eva Weinmayr, Gillian Wearing
2005 Hackney Empire:
Heaven & Earth
Kiera Bennett, Chris Davies, Barnaby Hosking, Reece Jones, Hugh Mendes, Alex Morrison, Gavin Nolan, Richard Wathen, Isabel Young
Award
2003 Fresh Art Artist of the Year
Teaching
2005 - Tate Modern, London
2002 - to date City and Guilds of London Art School
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