Artist Statement
The Functional Art
This is work from between 1982 and 1991 – a period when I was inspired and influenced by a diversity of Aesthetic movements and impulses: Saxon and Medieval design, Jacobean furniture, the Arts and Crafts movement, Omega Workshop, Bauhaus, Memphis, paganism, Max Miller, modern dance and music, music, music – Stravinsky, punk, flamenco and morris dancing.
Born with a paintbrush in one hand and a hammer in the other (the silver spoons of the Artist), my father being a builder and decorator – “if you want it – make it” was his credo.
I studied Stage Design then Sculpture. It was a case of look, look, steal, borrow, filter and make.
The functional art of Matisse and Roger Fry’s Omega Workshop gloriously opened the door. Other were doing it, but from different tenets – Ron Arad, Tom Dixon, Danny Lane, Andrei Dubrueil. Whereas their output was comprehensively steel, glass and monochrome, mine was excitedly colourful. Using a wide range of materials, in some cases seeking hands expert in their discipline to produce metalwork, rugs or stained glass.
For me, an idea or image could be translated from one medium to another, without its magic dispersing.
I had numerous shows and a good deal of publicity; my work sold privately and to museums such as the V & A, culminating in an exhibition at Parco Tokyo in 1989. Then alas, a breakdown. I placed all remaining works in storage and sought form then on to work from the calm centre rather then the exuberant outer zones.
The Art I stored away was the set for an ecstatic Dance; it has lain still and in darkness for a long time. It now needs to find its appropriate stage.
This is work from between 1982 and 1991 – a period when I was inspired and influenced by a diversity of Aesthetic movements and impulses: Saxon and Medieval design, Jacobean furniture, the Arts and Crafts movement, Omega Workshop, Bauhaus, Memphis, paganism, Max Miller, modern dance and music, music, music – Stravinsky, punk, flamenco and morris dancing.
Born with a paintbrush in one hand and a hammer in the other (the silver spoons of the Artist), my father being a builder and decorator – “if you want it – make it” was his credo.
I studied Stage Design then Sculpture. It was a case of look, look, steal, borrow, filter and make.
The functional art of Matisse and Roger Fry’s Omega Workshop gloriously opened the door. Other were doing it, but from different tenets – Ron Arad, Tom Dixon, Danny Lane, Andrei Dubrueil. Whereas their output was comprehensively steel, glass and monochrome, mine was excitedly colourful. Using a wide range of materials, in some cases seeking hands expert in their discipline to produce metalwork, rugs or stained glass.
For me, an idea or image could be translated from one medium to another, without its magic dispersing.
I had numerous shows and a good deal of publicity; my work sold privately and to museums such as the V & A, culminating in an exhibition at Parco Tokyo in 1989. Then alas, a breakdown. I placed all remaining works in storage and sought form then on to work from the calm centre rather then the exuberant outer zones.
The Art I stored away was the set for an ecstatic Dance; it has lain still and in darkness for a long time. It now needs to find its appropriate stage.