HIGH-VIZ FUTURISM

Found this close-up of one of my paintings while going through my files. Love the colours and the textures.

Close-up, angled detail shot. Acrylic on box canvas, 60cm x 60cm, 2018.

UNTITLED ABSTRACT COMPOSITION ( 2019 )

Acrylic on canvas, 76cm x 101cm

I, VOYAGER ( revisited )

It still amuses me to see where my paintings travel to. As you can imagine, I rarely get to go back and examine the back-catalogue. In fact, I don't even look up at paintings that are on the studio wall right now, because I'm too involved with the latest set of questions posed by the current piece. 

When I do get to see work from a previous collection however, I'm intrigued by the compositional decisions made. Viewed with fresh eyeballs, these visitations from the past can often provide me with solutions to current painting problems. In this instance, I remember how useful it was to divide this up into five columns ( instead of my usual three ), and also how those blocks of cadmium red were useful for providing the barely-contained explosive energy of the piece.

Below: ASTYANAX, currently residing in Brixton, London. Acrylic on canvas.

76cm x 101cm.

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UNTITLED WORK IN PROGRESS 28 / 11 / 2018 ( A )

EXPERIMENTING WITH TEXTURES

My painted work has always had a tactile quality to it, so much so that I regard it as a 'subtext' to the main composition. In other words, in each painting there are two pieces of art to read: The coloured shapes as seen from directly in front, and then the different gradients and grooves that you read from the side, or in a strong, angled source of light.

In the current series, I'm going to experiment with not only the depth, but the surface textures, like brickwork or peeling paint.

Below: Untitled acrylic-on-canvas ( extreme closeup ), with ruler to show scale. Full size: 80cm x 80cm.

UNTITLED WORK IN PROGRESS 28 / 11 / 2018 ( B )

This is actually a recycled canvas, that friends from the kids charity across the corridor gave me. It originally had graffiti spray paint on, which I then covered over with System 3 acrylic white. This has been on the back-burner because for some reason, I could barely get the masking tape to stick to it, no matter how much paint I piled onto it. Whether that was because the spray paint affected it, I have no idea. So it's been a bit of a battle with this one, and will remain the 'back-up' composition while the new series of paintings gets underway. 

Aside from that, it appears to be trying to evolve into something akin to my 'Mood Flag' paintings that I was doing years ago, and it'll be interesting to see if this progresses that style away from the original idea.

'CONCRETE TRILOGY' DEBUTS IN 'BEST OF BIRMINGHAM' 2018

Timed to coincide with Birmingham's inaugural Design Festival 2018, and the opening of furniture manufacturer Allermuir's design show-house in the Jewellery Quarter, the 'Best of Birmingham' show was hosted by the Birmingham Architectural Association, and curated by Mark Kelly and the team at Gensler's Birmingham office.

Featuring myself plus other artists from the Midlands, the exhibition was held during an uncharacteristically hot June ( by UK standards ). 

CONCRETE TRILOGY in the bar of the rooftop event space, below.

The final part of the CONCRETE TRILOGY ( below ) , may still be a work-in-progress, and subject to alteration once the exhibition is taken down.

My artwork was featured in the beautiful rooftop bar in the Allermuir Building in Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter. Opening Night, below...

...and then two weeks later on presentation night, which happened to be on the evening of the Summer Solstice, the weather was still uncharacteristically Mediterranean...

Below: 9pm June 21st, Birmingham Skyline, taken from the roof of the Allermuir Building.

NEW PAINTING

As Yet Untitled, acrylic on canvas, 50cm x 50cm, June 2018.

( Photo taken at midday. )

Same painting, different angle ( photo taken at sunset. )

WORK IN PROGRESS [ cont'd from 23rd January ]

As-Yet-Untitled, Acrylic On Canvas, 60cm x 60cm.

NEW WORK IN PROGRESS

PROGRESSIONS

Untitled, acrylic on canvas, 60cm x 60cm.

Below: Extreme Close-Up,taken today [ 23rd Jan 2018 ].

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Below: Close Up, angle shot Dec 29 2017

Below: Jan 3rd 2018

Below: Jan 4th 2018

Below: Jan 23rd 2018

2017 ANNUAL REPORT / 2nd QUARTER REVIEW

APRIL 2017: SPLITTING INFINITIES [ THE ABSTRACTION OF MODERN TRAVEL ]

- Continuing my Abstract Life series of articles and pictorials -

Click here for the full article.

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MAY - JUNE 2017

CARBON BLACK: Acrylic on Canvas, 50cm x 50cm

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U.S. AIN'T: Further experiments with Digital / Vector Art

WORK IN PROGRESS (cont'd) DETAIL SHOTS

Work-in-progress, as featured in the SOLSTICE exhibition, currently in the Nomad Room at Custard Factory, Birmingham UK, until February 2018. Curated by Zarina Keyani.

Untitled Work In Progress, Acrylic & Biro on Canvas, 60cm x 60cm, Nov / Dec 2017

WORK IN PROGRESS - DETAILED ANGLE CLOSE-UPS

BLACK BOX

When in doubt, just paint over it...but save a little bit from the previous iterations, just in case.

Acrylic On Canvas, 50cm x 50cm

DETAIL SHOTS