Exhibition view of "Slow Magic, Approaches to Contemporary Painting", Bluecoat Gallery, Liverpool, 2009
Weeping Medusa, 2008, Mixed media on linen, 162x130 cm
These paintings present large trees, rich in symbolism and formally dense and varied. The structure of a tree, (the trunk branching out in many directions) allows for an exploration of different approaches to mark-making, anywhere from the photo-realist treatment of tree bark to cartoon-like blobs and foliage, to straight collage of cut-outs from gardening magazines, as well as spray-painted pochoirs of real leaves and twigs.
In antropomorphous fashion, these trees talk and sing. Their oracular quality stems from a chattering, tree-dwelling community of parrots, neurotic women, mysterious green men, butterflies, and an assortment of ghosts. Ambiguous narratives and tongue-in cheek fairy-tales play hide-and–seek among the branches. These are trees of life, drunken genealogical conundrums. Cycles of death and re-birth are evoked with humour and grace. There is a fluid, orchestrated alternation between what is real and artificial, between an object and its representations.
Rapunzel, 2015, Mixed media on linen 200x160 cm
Tree of Paint, 2020, Mixed media on jutte linen, 190 x 130 cm
Chiaro-Oscuro, 2006, Mixed media on canvas, 210x170 cm
Chiaro-Oscuro, (detail)
Family Tree 2019, (detail)
Family Tree 2019, Mixed media on paper, archival frame, dimensions variable
Family Tree, (detail)
Black Dawn, 2009, Mixed media on linen, 162x130 cm
Installation view of solo show at LAC Sigean, in collaboration with FRAC Languedoc-Roussillon for regional biennial, this edition titled "Casanova Forever", 2010
South of the River, 2007, Mixed media on canvas, 210x170 cm
South of the River (detail)
Walking through the Jungle, 2006, Mixed media on canvas, 210x170 cm
Witches' Coven, 2008, Mixed media on linen, 210x170 cm
Witches' Coven, (detail)
Fucking X-mas Tree, 2007, Mixed media on canvas, 210x170 cm
Installation view of "Garden of Follies", solo exhibition at Kunstmuseum Magdeburg, Germany 2016
Good Egg, Bad Egg, 2009, Mixed media on canvas, 200x160 cm