I was born in Kent, UK and have lived in London, Leicester and Auckland, New Zealand. I’ve been painting and drawing since my early teens. I studied Art and then Graphic Design and worked as a designer for 25 years, juggling running a design practice with painting and exhibiting my art. My paintings often appeared in design projects as covers for classical CDs or illustrations for various corporate and not-for-profit clients. Gradually the art took over from the design.
Besides painting I’m also a musician. I made two albums back in the 90’s and played all the London dives to literally 10’s of people. I’m currently working on an ambient album in conjunction with my series of abstracts and landscapes inspired by Beacon Hill.
Despite being back in Leicester for the third time in my life I’m still a Spurs supporter.
So, what’s a dreamscape?
My work sits somewhere between abstracted landscape, fantasy and lyrical abstraction. I call them dreamscapes. They are meditations on nature, spirit and memory capturing moments of mood in an ever changing environment. They are contemporary visions of the sublime, filtered through abstract expressionism, East Asian art and philosophy, the majestic light of Turner and Monet… and a dash of 70s prog album covers.
I want the viewer to feel they are not quite sure what they are looking at. They may find familair motifs but be unsure if they are looking at something vast or microscopic, external or internal, underwater or out in the cosmos, in a grand vista or a local weedpatch. Nature moves constantly, ever changing, interconnected, both epic and intimate. In my art, like in a Murukami novel, one never quite knows when the familiar will slip into a twilight of surreal dreams. Who doesn’t want a little magic in their lives?
I want to express the flow of energy moving through everything in our universe.
My main contemporary influences are Cruz Jimenez, Darren Waterston, Peter Doig, Chris Rivers, Max Gimblett, Olafur Eliasson, Gerda Leenards, Fiona Rae and John Walsh.
My strongest historical influence JMW Turner. I also greatly admire Monet, Bosch, Miro, Zao Wou-Ki and Chu Teh Chun.
i have been very lucky to have had several wonderful tutors:
In 2011 I was privileged to study with NZ/US abstract painter Max Gimblett.
I have also studied with Andrew Barns-Graham from 2010-2013 and Cruz Jimenez from 2013-2016, Chinese ink brush painting with Wei Lin Ha and abstract painting with Peter Clayton.
Exhibitions and Awards
Regular exhibitor at Liberation Art Gallery since 2023
Tarpey Gallery Winter exhibition 2024
Love Art exhibition LCB Depot, Leicester 2023
Leicester People’s Open 2023 and 2024
Solo Exhibition Old Lock Up Gallery, Cromford 2023
Tarpey Gallery Open 2022
Tarpey Gallery Open 2021
Leicester Society of Artists Annual Exhibition 2021 and 2022
Art house Leicester – annually from 2019 onwards
Loughton Society of Artists
online exhibition summer 2020
SOCK Gallery Loughborough Open 2018
Cank Street Gallery Summer Open 2018
SOCK Gallery Loughborough Open 2017
Where shall we call home? 2016
Depot Artspace, Devonport, Auckland, New Zealand
Group exhibition 2016
Fo Guang Shan Buddhist Temple, East Tamaki, Auckland NZ
Estuary Award 2015 Selected finalist
Uxbridge Gallery, Howick, Auckland, NZ
Solo showcase – March 2015
Te Tuhi, Pakuranga, Auckland, NZ
Winner, oils category 2014
Te Tuhi, Pakuranga, Auckland, NZ
RAW5 Group show – NOV 2015
Studio One, Ponsonby, Auckland, NZ
Three Worlds Collide Group show – Feb 2014
Depot Artspace, Devonport, Auckland, NZ
Strike 2 – Amnesty International exhibition – Mar 2014
Depot Artspace, Devonport, Auckland, NZ
Strike – Amnesty International exhibition – Feb 2013, Museum of the Vernacular, Devonport, Auckland, NZ
RAW2 Group show – Dec 2012
TF Studio, Auckland, NZ
RAW Group show – Oct 2012
House of Hedone, Auckland, NZ
Nigel Smith 