I  was born in Bradford,  West Yorkshire (U.K) on the 25th of September, 1966...                                 

The date of my death-as far as I can tell-has yet to be decided or announced... 

Born into what  was probably the last of the "Billy Casper" generations and despite the protestations of my art teacher, I left school at sixteen to work in one of Bradford's dwindling textile mills.  After passing through several spinning mills I left work at twenty-two with aspirations to become a professional painter. I studied art in  theory and practice for the following seven years becoming proficient in most artistic styles and techniques. Of the fifty-one finished paintings that escaped the bonfire I managed to sell all but two of them-which I kept for myself.

I gave up on my artistic ambitions in 1995 due to a total lack of direction and a complete crash of confidence in my own abilities and my future possibilities.

I set about finding myself gainful employment, steadily working my way through a  vast  variety of jobs including working at an ice-rink, working on building sites, window cleaning, dustbin man and driving a white  van amongst the many pursuits I quickly became bored with.  Artistic adventures were never far from my mind and I remained philosophical that this aspect of my life was not finished for good and that in the meantime I was gaining physical experience of the world around me-as well learning to know myself through my increasing disaffectedness and disillusionment. It is experience that is constantly becoming more vital and that I don't believe I couldn have gained in any other way.

In 2002, although continuing to move from one casual job to another , I again found my artistic purpose and began to teach myself some of the many aspects of sculptural techniques. It was a long process but it gave me the time to find the direction that had been lacking previously and to amass sketchbooks full of multitudes of ideas that were the result of my increasing self confidence and hard won knowledge of my past existence.

 

 

  

                                                                               

It doesn't feel necessary to say too much more than that, to take you along the twisted roads of apparent intrigue and perceived moments of personal tragedy that may have brought me to this point would be an attempt to bolster the shortcomings of  my work.

It would be better that I raised the level of my efforts to a degree of competence that the words to any stories of the past could be dispensed with, the emotional, visual value of the images speaking loudly enough for themselves. Perhaps you'll  identify with the intentions of my work or but you won't; It is however the product of many years study, self-criticism and doubt.  Although there is no doubt at all that the very best is yet to come, it is continually possible (but unlikely) that my self-delusion outweighs my insight and my talent.  Time and effort will decide. 

The only real concerns are the concerns of the everyman as they are the only true, unspoken degrees of unity that are tangible. It's a dimly lit street that all of us must negotiate to arrive any point we will inevitably find ourselves at.  All hardship is relative. The past is eternally noted within the darkness of memory. There can be nothing to be gained in ruthlessly turning it over, relentlessly repeating it's every detail to somehow cling to the gravity of a lost magical moment; Or worse, to attempt to gain karmic points in competition with any supposed peers in order to endeavour to prove the worthiness of ambitions that need no justification.

It's the product of experience that matters and it's success or failure to relay the comfort in the unifying truth that quite simply...this is how it feels.

---

 
            2005
                                                                                                                                                                                             1995
                                                                                                                                                  1996
 
                   

                                                                              

         Red Square-1995

 

 

1995                                                                                      1995

 1995                                                                                        1995

1993                                                                                       1990

"At 40  I was free from doubts about myself" - Confucius.