Covid Commemoration
I spent the first lockdown about 10 seconds away from my studio which is in a set of buildings that had been a Victorian dairy. The farmers used to bring their cows up from the marshes to be milked, it must have been quite a sight, a herd coming up the hill and then through […]
Sahan
I am interested in the kinds of paintings that straddle the religious and secular worlds in western art, particularly when opulence was intended because opulence and ‘tastelessness’ are frequent bedfellows. I find it interesting that elements from cultures that are also frequently denigrated are co-opted to allow the subject to be expressed in a way […]
Little Races
I am a mixed race transracial adoptee or TRA. I was adopted in 1964 into an established white family with three sons. My family were part of the aspirational middle class and all of the people I knew and loved were white. I was a happy child until I started school and began to encounter […]
Covid commemoration Callout
My usual response to a crisis is go to the pub, have a nice cold beer and wait for it all to blow over. Well that’s not really working as from Thursday 5th November 2020, the Winchester and all the other boozers are once again closed, except for takeouts, though not booze, or something, I […]
Covid Commemoration
This is a horrible disease no matter where it comes from. And then we have this horrible political landscape where it’s all about ideology so caution seems to be tempered by ideology. I am pretty sure you cannot fight a disease with an opinion no matter how fantastic it is. One thing that totally preoccupies […]
Mostly harmless
For the most part I’ve never understood the appeal of Kanye West but I have form when it comes to missing the boat with great black music as evidenced by the fact it took me years to appreciate Beyoncé. So for all I know Ye is as good as other people tell me. I’ve just […]
Who is it Who Comes
Background This work was made in response to Cal Garbat, one of the the disused fabric factories that dominate the village of Vilassar De Dalt near Barcelona. I was invited as part of an artists exchange for the Revela-T Festival. Cal Garbat was built in the 19thC . The industry collapsed after WW1 and the […]
My Mother’s House
My mother had a stroke when she was 84 and still very independent. One Saturday morning, completely out of the blue, a blood vessel in her brain ruptured and her old way of life ended.I visited her quite a lot, most of my time spent running errands and spoiling her because she liked the attention […]
Shine
Ry Cooder made an album called Jazz in the late 70s. It includes the song Shine, it caused a kerfuffle at the time and Cooder has put some water between himself and that album since, but I actually like that album and have a certain fondness for that tune. It’s a bouncy piece that includes […]
a bag of shallots
Every christmas we had the same stuff: a massive mutant turkey, a boned ham joint, brussels sprouts cooked close to mush, each one with a little cross at it’s base, roast and boiled potatoes, stuffing, gravy, the whole nine yards. I wasn’t a fan of christmas dinner, but boxing day lunch was something that I […]