Working in oils (and sometimes adding collage), I use classical painting techniques to pursue a number of threads with equal enthusiasm. I work from photographs I’ve taken for reference, existing vintage photos, or images found online. My work is sometimes driven by my political and moral beliefs, but mostly it’s simply a result of my desire to create something beautiful. The results of these attempts are often narrative-driven, sometimes they touch on the surreal, and are often comic, ironic and absurdist.
Having worked with one of the largest collections of photography in Australia over the last twenty years as a picture librarian at the State Library of Victoria, I am heavily influenced by photography and film, and the ‘truths’ that they reveal.
Influences: Notions of alienation and loneliness. Image nausea and product nausea. Edward Hopper, Mamma Andersson, Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Andrew Wyeth, David Hockney, and many other artists – too many to name.