Visual Art
My work is driven less by style than by a fascination with individuals.
Whether painting a person, a bird or a horse, I am interested in what happens when familiar context is removed. By reducing references to place and time, the subject is allowed to stand on its own, inviting a closer and more personal encounter.
Across different series, techniques and subjects, the work explores recurring themes of identity, vulnerability, strength, transience and the ways in which we perceive the world around us. Although the subjects vary, the underlying question remains the same: what do we see when we look beyond assumptions, labels and familiar narratives?
Portraits
My portraits explore identity, vulnerability, strength and transience. By largely removing references to place and time, the figures are freed from a specific narrative and placed within a more universal space.
Emerging from and dissolving into layers of paint, they exist somewhere between presence and absence. The absence of a defined background places the individual at the centre of attention, while simultaneously removing them from a particular moment or location.
Rather than describing a person or telling a story, these paintings explore what remains when context falls away: character, memory, emotion and the traces left behind by time. Stripped of distraction, the individual becomes both deeply personal and universally recognisable.
Animals
The animals in these paintings are removed from their familiar surroundings and presented as individuals. By placing them outside their natural environment, the focus shifts away from habitat and behaviour and towards presence, character and form.
Many of the birds are painted on a larger scale than life, allowing details that often go unnoticed to become visible: the intricate structure of feathers, subtle colour variations and the unique beauty of even the most familiar species. A sparrow, robin or coot is no longer simply part of the landscape, but becomes the subject of a portrait.
These paintings are not intended as scientific studies. Rather, they are invitations to look more closely at animals we think we already know, and to rediscover the beauty, individuality and quiet wonder they contain. By isolating the subject from its surroundings, the work asks us to pause, observe and see beyond the assumptions of familiarity.
