I am a visual artist working in drawing, painting and mixed media. I was born in the UK in 1967 and grew up in Sweden before migrating to Australia in the 70's with my family. I studied art in a graphic design course in the early 80s, and focused on the fine art subjects (drawing mainly) and typography. I'm basically a self-taught painter and have been doing this for nearly 20 years. My work has a changed a lot over the years and that's a good thing. In 2006 I got back into exhibiting after staying out of galleries for about 9 years and just doing other stuff, study, work, living life outside the art scene because I felt I needed to choose a course of self-education as an artist.

I respect all people’s choices, and that was just mine. I like my art because of this. Learning techniques informally from other visual artists during my time in an artists’ run gallery space has helped me to keep an open mind and develop my own style.

My academic studies have also inspired my art, in particular my interests in theology, mythology and psychology which are a resource and inspiration to me. A great deal of my work is deeply autobiographical but in recent years I have developed an interest in science and its affect on society and the individual.

Since 2005 I have returned to my artwork, moving between works on paper and canvas and small sculptures. I do some magazine editorial illustration occasionally and find this both enjoyable and a way to learn more about what’s happening in the world around me.

Biography

I was born in 1967 in the United Kingdom and grew up in Sweden before migrating to Australia in 1974. At the age of 15 I dropped out of high school and worked in the hospitality industry before studying Graphic Design at TAFE in Perth , Western Australia . I studied typography, print making, and design and later worked in the fashion industry in Melbourne as a textile designer.

I’m a self-taught painter, and spent many years working in a small art gallery in Perth where I had my first solo exhibition. This exposed me to designers and visual artists with skills in painting, sculpture and craft. Living within the art community throughout this time was the best art school training I could have got.

In 1993 I completed a Bachelor of Arts from Murdoch University in Western Australia, majoring in history. An ongoing fascination with the French Revolution, can be seen in some of my pieces. After completing my Honours Degree I began a PhD at the University of Melbourne where I studied online narratives and narrative user interfaces. Although adept at academic work, I found it restrictive and I missed painting and drawing so I left study behind to focus on that.  Those studies at PhD level, however, gave me some great skills that make me look deeper into my art and I research more than I did before.

Recent Interviews:

RTRFM Radio August 2006
RTRFM Radio May 2007

2005 Interview with the artist

How did you become an artist?

I've been creating since I was 5 years old. I never woke up one day and thought ‘I'm going to be an artist'. I think you're just born to do it. I really don't think you have a choice if you're a creative person. It's your whole interface into the world. When I cook I'm creative. It's very hard for me to disconnect in my day job. I find I have to be a little bit creative. I apply my creativity to everything, without trying.

Life goes so quick these days. The cycles of time get smaller. 38 today is what I think 58 used to be. Creatively I feel very privileged – I've produced a lot, so I think umm…when I started it was like, the boundaries between graphic design, photography, fine art, image…you know, it was quite separate. With new media, everything has converged.

What is your art about?

It's like a big diary with my journey through this life, my belief in heaven. My art is how I document my life, my experiences, you know – my views of this life. What it means to be here. Sometimes this is spiritual, and sometimes philosophical. Right now I'm deeply immersed in the work of Joseph Cambell and how we use mythology to create out realities, be it from a personal or societal point of view.

People say that my work is spiritual and I believe that, but if you ask me to break it down into technical particulars, I don't actually work that way. It is very intuitive. I do use my intellect, but guided by a holistic approach to learning.

I'm not always 100 per cent clear of what I'm creating – ever. Who can be? People who deny the unconscious are kidding themselves, or they're control freaks! Even when I'm doing it really well – I'm not 100 per cent sure of what I'm doing. And there are times when, actually when I think I'm at my best, I am 100 per cent unclear of what I am doing. Right now, thank God, I'm very focused on a clear direction which uses mythology and psychology to interpret some of the dark aspects of our current political climate. In Australia we have moved towards a very dark side of humanity in terms of our public policies. The War in Iraq and the Anti-Terrorism legislation have enormous consequences for us as a country, and more than that, as global citizens, as human beings.  So I guess I’m being more focused on this next exhibition.

Do you start out with a plan?

I do. I use literature and philosophy and poetry. I do sketches. But I wouldn't say I plan it all the way. I work my way up to the experience of doing an individual piece and then using words or images, feelings and sketching it and doing preparation work, which sometimes is very experimental drawings, and going back to the basics of colour, texture and collecting things. I mean, it's sort of like a dress rehearsal for when I do a painting or I do an object or a sculpture or whatever I do. And other people see that as planning. I see it as rehearsal for when I go live. Live as in when it's me and the work, it just flows and I switch my mind off, to a degree. So there is preparation but in the moment that I do work, I wouldn't call it a totally conscious experience.

In my day job I have to be very conscious, very clear, very rationalistic, and that pays the rent. This keeps me in touch with what most people go through. I always think it's very misplaced to talk ordinary experience down, like “great art” is the only thing that matters. Feeding your kids is also great art. It's a part of life, and you can choose to do this creatively, or resentfully.

In your creations, what do you try to achieve?

I think, in the abstract, you can create a world that you could never imagine. That doesn't exist. It comes out and you accidentally recognise it and that's when you've done good work. When you have accidentally have bumped into the dimensions of work, in that abstraction.

And that to me is really powerful at the moment. I love what I do and I know that people love my figurative style, and I like to keep that in because I think that I'm doing it in a unique and quirky way. But at the moment I am really enjoying stretching out into abstraction and finding a lot of meanings in symbolism. That's not to say I want to embrace semantics for its own sake. In fact semantics isn't anywhere near my point of view, as I think the creation of meaning, that's so cultural and subjective, and it's part of the joy of being ‘out of control' of your art.

The sexuality in some of your work, how is that a part of your process?

I came out when I was 16. I've been out for a long time. When I did the gay paintings it was a personal thing. I wasn't making a big statement about being gay. I think it was a different form of ‘coming out'. It was coming out through my work.

You know there's coming out when you just tell family and people and stuff and when you try to live in that way. I think coming out through your work is very important. Whether you're an office worker or whether you're a bricklayer, or a journalist, or whether you're an artist, or whether you're not.

Sexuality is intrinsic to humanity. It's woven in our being, and not necessarily there in the sexual act itself. It's like, in tantric tradition, the sexuality is part of something deeper. You can bring the mythological aspect of sexuality into it too. There will always be sexuality in my work, in my symbolism, because they are there in all cultures and religions. I didn't invent sex you know!

Your style and use of media has changed numerous times over the years. How do you explain this?

When you change and you go into areas that you don't know a lot about and you're new, you're five years old again. No matter how good you are, you're going to be compared to ‘Mr Average' again until you master that. And that's why it's always so important that you always do something different, so that you don't think that you've got it, that you know everything. If you don't keep doing things where you know shit, nothing, you're never going to strive, you're never going to push your boundaries, and you're never going to explore yourself.

Most recently I have made a definite break in decision to work in sepia and monochromatic colour schemes, to bring the symbolism into the foreground. My colour work is so intense it can overwhelm people. It can overwhelm me too. People don't realise the power of colour in their lives and well-being.

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