I was born and live in Essex. I studied Fine Art at The University of Edinburgh and Edinburgh College of Art. Subsequently, I earned an MA in Art and Architecture at the University of East London.
I am an artist and a farmer, growing blackcurrants and grapes. This unique combination of roles allows me to draw inspiration from the natural world and incorporate it into my artistic practice.
I am an autistic, middle-aged white man of middling height and build both fairly standard and not standard at all. I run (pretty fast for my age). I am a member of the Blackwater Polytechnic, a group of creative people working around the village of Coggeshall, southwest of Colchester, founded with my wife, the artist Freddie Robins. I am Chair of the Board of the Victor Batte-Lay Foundation, which owns the Minories Art Gallery in Colchester, Essex.
The bedrock of my work consists of designing and making sculptures from forged and fabricated steel. These sculptures, commissioned by housing associations, local authorities, and private clients for public spaces, are a result of a meticulous process that involves understanding the client's vision, engaging with the local community, and transforming their identities into visual stories that reveal the uniqueness of their locality.
Alongside these public commissions, developed out of my skill in engaging people in my projects, I have worked on projects with museums with Brigid Howarth funded by NESTA (National Endowment for Science Technology & the Arts), the Wellcome Trust, Arts Council England and the Manchester Museum, developing ideas about communicating complicated, subtle narratives based on these institutions' collections. I created a series of performance projects with Kris Cohen about exploration from this work, produced with Grizedale Arts, Hastings Museum and the Banff Centre in Canada.
I have always made drawings alongside my sculptural practice. I have exhibited my drawings and paintings periodically, with Wagner & Partner, Berlin, in 2004 and Reinhessen Kunstverein, Mainz, 2006. In 2008, I was shortlisted for the Jerwood Drawing Prize. In 2016, I was shortlisted for the Sunday Times Watercolour Prize and in 2017 for the Royal Watercolour Society Prize, which I won in 2018. Watercolours have become more central to my work. I have exhibited with Wayfarers Gallery and Theodore: Art in Brooklyn, New York in 2014 and Galerie dreiZehn in Berlin in 2016/17.
My painting is a unique journey into the spirit world, from which a myriad of spectral figures emerge onto the canvas. Veils of vibrant colour converge and fluctuate, spun from the netherworld where truth and beauty reside. I bring a damp, ancient, magical psycho-folk wind to the canvas, the heady breath of the bosky mire. I play with faeries, sprites, and spirits, embracing the pink, shiny, glittery, massive scary teeth and truly awesome power of death-wielding elementals. It's not always a serene walk in the woods, but it's a journey I invite you to join me on.
I am deeply committed to cherishing the local and nurturing a regional voice amidst the homogeneity of contemporary art. This commitment is partly fueled by building my home and workplace here in Essex on my family's blackcurrant farm, a journey that was the subject of a television programme - 'Grand Designs' shown in the UK in 2010. During this process, I founded, with my wife and fellow artist Freddie Robins, the Blackwater Polytechnic, which is dedicated to promoting quality in design and construction and to promoting Essex artists. We curate shows here in Essex and internationally. The 2018 landmark exhibition 'Between Things' at the Minories Art Gallery in Colchester, curated with Kaavous Clayton, was a sophisticated blending of design, art, and craft, a testament to our commitment to visual culture.
Covid knocked me for six with a recurrence of my ME/CFS. Again, I had to put my sculptural work on hold, which enabled me to dedicate time to reopening the Minories Art Gallery. I successfully applied for the Arts Council England Covid Recovery Fund, which led to a six-month support programme for emerging artists and freelancers. Subsequently, we obtained funding for exhibitions and community projects in off-site spaces before taking back the Minories building in late 2022. With a new top team, the gallery reopened fully to the public in the summer of 2023. And now is going full-steam ahead.
Please visit the Blackwater Polytechnic website for more information on projects and exhibitions. If you would like to discuss a commission, purchase, or project or need more information, please get in touch.