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My recent paintings bring together culturally and stylistically diverse imagery in ambiguous settings. The structures within the work define the arena for possible narrative. The collision between the space created within the painting and that formed by representational objects is of interest. Travel in Egypt and Syria in 2008 inspired the idea of archaeology as the physical remains of a ‘ghost’ culture. In my work this is allied to the Muslim veil, as both protector and obscurer of sight. Notions of secrecy also occur in the architecture of Middle Eastern cities, where houses face inwards and elaborate screens (based on grids) conceal those who look out on the street. The imagery is strongly allied to photography and cinema and quotes from the vocabulary of film: blurring, freezing action, framing and long exposure. The work has originated from an interest in light interpreted in a variety of media. For the exhibition GHOSTS (2009) I combined these ideas with book pieces by Mark Dickens. His works suggest the idea of successive leaves, gradually masking one another. In response to this, I have developed pieces made from layered sheets of glass and mirror, set in shallow boxes, images from each sheet, barely perceptible under subsequent layers. I am an English painter and teacher. I have exhibited annually since 2000 and have curated a number of exhibitions in non-art spaces. My work is in many corporate and private collections. I am an Artist Educator for both London's Tate Galleries. |
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