Biography
My work explores various aspects of melancholia using traditional methods of oil paint on canvas and on wooden panels. These themes range from "despairing under a cloud of black" associated with a sense of loss or impotence, to the Neo-Platonic concept of melancholia as an emotional state surrounded with the halo of the sublime.
"My interest in melancholia relates primarily to the word's use as a (poetic) term for a mood of self-absorbed sadness resulting from a personal loss of some kind. The nature of this loss may not be known consciously but its manifestation can range from sullen brooding through to withdrawal into a state of inactivity bordering on death."
"Today melancholia is an outmoded category associated often with the blues or painful nostalgia and whilst I want my paintings to have a contemporary relevance, I do not see my work as social realism and hopefully the strange landscapes ensure there is room for the construction of different narratives and meanings."
