The body of work that I have been developing deals primarily with explorations in contemporary portraiture. The "pop-realist" paintings that have dominated my production demonstrate a stylistic departure from more traditional figurative work in the sense that I have minimized "painterly" or gestural qualities from the works and have structured my images from an amalgamation of highly graphic, geometric fragments or shards of colour and line to recreate the figure. This approach has led to the development of a sharp and saturated aesthetic that references the systemic visual language associated with the repertoire of digitally created imagery. Despite an inclination towards the hard-edged, I am conscious of building layer upon layer of colour and form to create a sense of depth and softness.
Within my painting practice, I seek to merge aspects of classical portraiture with aesthetics found in contemporary illustration, graphic design, screen-printing and neo-graffiti. I am interested in creating works that refer to traditions in high, low and commercial art simultaneously and I use figuration as it provides a familiar subject matter unto which I can explore pertinent ideas within youth and popular culture, and the construction of identity.
The resulting aesthetic should be ultimately brash and coy, self-conscious and thoughtful. I am interested in capturing the complex beauty that resides where strength and vulnerability, facade and authenticity overlap.
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