Artist statement
My work has always been urban. I work by layering images and then constructing
but also eliminating parts of images to find new buildings and places. I use images
of real buildings and work them in an abstract way. I have just finished an AA2A
scheme in the fibre workshop of Salford University. I did this to think about the
meaning of the canvas I was painting on. The thinness of a layer of paint reminds
me of how fragile civilisation is, how easily it is torn and then social order breaks down.
The tension of stretched canvas in the Salford paintings was a way of looking at
urban tension, as an atmosphere or even sound. The way local industry binds people
in an area is a reoccurring theme. The old industrial machines and modern architecture
are incompatible but interesting to work with in a painting. Although I use textiles and
sometimes pattern I am not interested in the domestic environment.
My practice is studio based.
