X Artwork and photographic work from a London based artist

The artist   Victoria Kiff .. possibly the biggest influence on my work to date ..after a space of 30 years of not painting I saw her work in an exhibition and realized that I could paint something other than impressionist copies . I first recognized her name which made me look closer at her work ..as I framed for Ken Kiff [ her father-in-law ] for a West End gallery in my past . She surpassed his work in my opinion .

I had forgotten my old style  due to no public interest .. now that's unimportant to me .

Next, right top is the artist Sidney Nolan..[ image from the web ]  I  helped frame his 100ft long snake paintings that I was told they were but have never found a reference to them ..  and met him several times while doing so, his work was also an influence as regards his capacity to change by the minute .

..Also a man who employed me to help make a wall size sculpture in copper in approx' 1969 .. Peter Fagan , his energy and imagination was to envy  

Lastly Bruce Maclean  ...   right, bottom...[ image from the web]  a man who takes strides into the world of art at his own pace not as he is dictated to  I became very interested in his underlying  meanings in his work I made his frames on occasions 

The interest in these people is that handling their work close up made it possible to see the minute details of how it was made and that is the basis of learning technique to then add to my library of ways to use paint or materials as well as knowing them and understanding the meaning of the content .

My influences have mainly been people I have worked with .  I was born in 1948 and had just one art book I sent off for called The Modern World 1965 and it was my earliest exploration into art  at the age of about 17... most of those images have stayed with me .

At  Art college I read a lot about philosophy and the books popular of the time more than art books or classics and I liked the way existentialism came into my life  .It explained to me why we have wars I see now . 

I have spent a great deal of my life studying human behaviour without realizing I was doing it ,  anthropology in book terms  . . My work is a way of explaining to myself and others what I find . There are no words and the abstraction makes an identifying key that cannot offend but can be understood, as language is crude blatant and cohesive in a world of pathos and beliefs of right and wrong . Some work is intended to shock and some to be passionate or deceiving, some just natural . A journey in life is education, and experience is important if it's to be understood. Much of life is of little interest to a majority and is dismissed or discarded but to me its part of the psychological puzzle of the mind . Painting is my medium and so rather than any other way to analyse these factors of our instinctive feelings I find it suits me . It is also a way to look at my own reactions to others.

I have no real need to explain these pictures as most of my work has been a conversation with someone who has the same way of talking and it's simply understood to a like mind but gobbledegook to a bystander.. but I sometimes feel frustration at my own circle looking at me with dumb eyes while they then try to put me on some path to success they think they know better than me, but not realizing that I dont want to succeed .. I just need to survive. .

A woman was about to buy a painting of mine in a gallery exhibition when her friend said ,' but it has a penis in it', she almost dropped it , what does the world think of the human body?  I wonder about the sanity of them all.. or who manipulates their minds.

In conclusion, my symbolism is used to illustrate pictorial references to the human quality, like hieroglyphics did. The dog for instance I use to symbolize friendship or violence ,   I have an interest in why humans befriend animals but at the same time they eat them , so there I see no god creation ideology of life ,  it's basic, more unintelligent or primitive and in language form it's limited to how I am able to describe this.  We destroy to gain power of the survival instinct we are born with. The making of a monetary system  has a great deal to do with this aspect,  It makes it possible to access large formations of power easily by violent means .

  Early Work

1968/1973  -  2005/2010

1969 ...             Monoprint 

1969 ...     Brother  .....Mixed Media on Board

1973  Woman Falling...   Regents Park    Emulsion on Board

1973 Collage found materials ..       Regents Park      

2005 to 2010