As I’m working in my draughty, dusty old warehouse studio, I look out onto the huge wasteland set aside for the London Olympics 2012.
It’s a mad time in East London where I live and work. As the planners and bulldozers move in, a whole new generation of immigrant workers arrive and add to the culture clash which makes London… well, London!
Starting out as a carpenter, I by chance happened to get a break while studying woodwork at a local technical college. After befriending a group of interior designers at the same school, my interest in design grew and I eventually decided to embark on a different journey and applied to study interior design myself. This led to various other courses and eventually I ended up where I am today. And a happy day it is!
My obsessions are as diverse as my visual styles, or so I’m told, which range from sketchy, frantic drawings to careful, painstaking studies. A friend once called it my creative schizophrenia. Should I be worried? At the moment I’m addicted to using random cell phone pictures, from vandalized bus stops to exotic flowers. For me, everything is inspiration in one way or another. I also have a weakness for Japanese anime, and can watch Hayao Miyazaki films on rotation. I collect vinyl art – limited edition collectible mini figures – and have a vast array of Dunny’s and a beautiful Monsterism collection.
When I create my work I think of it as essentially an abstract process, and I try to balance out shapes and colors with endless tweaking, even though the result is basically figurative. I suppose you could say it’s a combination of mark making, digital effects, high fashion photography and my “creative schizophrenia.”
My current projects include contributing to the second annual collection of erotic work by various artists called: ”GRAFUCK,” and working on my own collection of women’s swimwear. Olympic inspiration floats in the noisy window along with another layer of dust.
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