I paint and draw portraits of idiosyncratic characters, lonely figures and desolate landscapes. My works are transient narratives that illustrate personal and emotional disconnection, contrasting human fragility with social constructions. I’m interested in the human condition and specifically the effects and causes of loneliness as part of a larger inquiry into identity and the psychological aspects of living in an over-socialised, saturated world.

I draw inspiration from everyday life, popular culture and mass media sources like film and television, being particularly interested by the notion of the fragmented image as narrator or catalyst, in which a single image, loaded with emotion and latent narrative, comes alive with a flood of subjective associations. The strange and evocative quality that emerge from decontextualised cinematic stills are visually compelling to me and I try to reproduce the effect in my paintings. I also find the disconnectedness of narrative and the unsystematic sequence of events intriguing as a kind of metaphor for the manner in which we experience reality.

In terms of subjects and style, I mainly engage with portraits and landscapes. Portraits, and the subjects thereof fascinate me immensely, especially bent characters with eccentricities and insecurities. I’m drawn by how the baggage people carry begins to define them. And landscapes – transient places that become spacial signifiers of identity and memory, and desolation as a metaphor for a collective emotion felt by a generation.

Although I move between drawing, printmaking and painting, my medium of choice is traditional ‘oil on canvas’. I find the contrast between the immediacy of our modern lives and the slowness of painting curious and also a means to force deceleration – a compulsory braking for closer inspection and introspection.

Through my work I hope to cultivate a sense of empathy by creating points of connection that carry viewers back to some important place in themselves. When we realise that loss and loneliness are the underlying banes that all humans suffer, we become more compassionate toward those around us.

For business or friendly banter, reach out to me.