Q & A

Where were you born?

I was born in Dudley in 1973 and brought up on the Tudor estate in Upper Gornal - a council estate, going to High Arcal Secondary School - a state school. My father was a car mechanic when I was young but later he was unemployed. My mother was a housewife but went on to gain a Degree in English.

Did you enjoy School?

No. School was a shock. It was the first time that I heard a swear word. Even at 6 years old I was a pacifist, I liked reading books, I didn't care for football and that instantly disqualified me in the macho world of young boys and spiteful girls. The jealousy, lies, revenge, bullying, pettiness, the herd behaviour, it's all there in the playground. I'm certain that I felt a sense of alienation and injustice from a very early age. I knew that I was different from others. I never felt part of school. I couldn’t understand their behaviour. And having started school late I was way behind in my literacy skills. However, education has always been extremely important to me.

Tell me about your parents?

It was conflict. They argued almost every night in the kitchen and my bedroom was right above them. As a young child, violence was commonplace and casual and directed towards my mother and myself. My mother ran away with me and so my early years were spent moving from place to place, job to job. I didn’t go to school until seven or have a permanent home. There was also poverty. I don't know how much dad contributed to the household financially but if it wasn't for my mother hosting Pippa Dee, Tupperwear, Jewellery and Towels parties, and door-to-door sales with Avon, we wouldn't have had presents at Christmas. Funnily enough, the poverty wasn't a handicap amongst my friends on my street because we were all in the same situation. We didnt notice it.

How did you discover your artistic side?

My mother encouraged me to draw wildlife and my grandfather taught me perspective. My father was not artistic and showed little support for my interests. After school, most of my friends did a YTS course, but I chose to go to Dudley College of Art and Design and studied Fine Art, Product Design, Literature and Photography. It was a 2 mile walk but it was a high point in my life. I discovered kinship, a love of the arts, and also that talent at something. We had great teachers, especially the history of photography classes. I was drilled in life drawing. My early charcoals were compared by a lecturer to Van Gogh and Millet for the depiction of ordinary people.

Did you go to University?

Yes. I didn't get into my chosen university and reluctantly studied Computer Aided Design at Wolverhampton University but it was an awful course. It was during this time that I started to question everything about the world. I read Design for the Real World by Victor Papanek and it made me quit my degree.

What happened next?

The next ten years were very bad, with failures in personal relationships, failure in friendships, and failure in finding work. Dudley was a dying town and an area of urban deprivation with few opportunities and none whatsoever for a creative personality. I fell into the benefit system. I discovered an underclass of unemployables who were depressed and hopeless and yet faced derision from above. I felt attacked for being unlucky or unfortunate. Fear and failure were part of daily life. I started keeping notebooks and sketchbooks.

How did you get out?

When I was lost, it was actually books that were a  salvation. The main ones were The Biographical Dictionary of Film (David Thomson) and The Ascent of Man (Jacob Bronowski). It developed a love of films. I did a Filmmaking course at Wolverhampton College and studied Climate Change through Open University.

Spending every day in the library, I discovered an interest in the environment. I wrote for the papers. I did voluntary work. I worked menial jobs. In my thirties, I worked as a mural artist. Until the age of 36 I lived in social housing.

How would you describe your style?

It's still not free of influence by other artists.

What inspires you?

I'm driven by a need to communicate my concerns about the world. I’ve considered other artistic mediums, and my first love is film, but painting is easier and more affordable and less restricted. My primary interest is human self-destructiveness. The way that technological and social progress has left a trail of wreckage in its wake. I’m also interested in the way that our culture and its institutions make each of us conform to a set of values that benefit those who run society more than those at the bottom. We think we are free but act like obedient servants who willingly accept and defend our imposed roles without ever questioning them.

Do you go long stretches without painting?

I do go through fazes. Sometimes I feel the need to write instead of paint. Painting is physically tiring, so I may take a break for a while and do something else instead. The longest break was after Brexit. That event stunned me into a depressed silence.

How did the vote affect you?

Brexit marked me in new ways. For the first time, that which was suggested was now blatant and pervasive  - the racism within society. I couldn't look at people in the same way. A feeling of outrage grew within me, at the shameful actions of our government and the electorate who support them. How to shoot yourself in the foot.

Who are your favourite artists?

Apart from Anselm Kiefer, very little in contemporary art interests me. I find it cold, decadent, self-indulgent, disposable and reached a dead end. I feel more of a kinship with some writers, journalists, filmmakers. My first influence was photojournalism: Jacob Riis, Lewis Hine, Capa, Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, Margaret Bourke White. Writers were also important to me: Victor Papanek, David Thomson, Robert Hughes, Upton Sinclair, George Orwell. And musicians: John Lennon, Dylan, Bono. And documentaries series like Unreported World.

Regards painters. I'm drawn to the traditional styles and forms. I admire the portraits of Raphael, Da Vinci, Titian, Durer and Rembrandt; the landscapes of Turner, Monet, Whistler, Constable; and some of Rothko. But politically, The artists I relate to most are Goya, Lowry, Nonell, Sickert, Schiele, Kollwitz, Degas, Rego, Picasso, Grosz, Jacob Lawrence, Diego Rivera, Hopper, Van Gogh, Repin, Ben Shahn and his social realism paintings and left-wing political views. I like 19th Century Victorian artists that addressed poverty - George Frederic Watts, Luke Fildes. I'm always discovered new ones. John Heartfield and his antifascist Photo-montage.

What music do you listen to?

I listen mostly to Muse, Metallica, Radiohead, Editors, The Doors, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Hendrix. Also Nina Simone, Portishead, PJ Harvey, Lucinda Williams, Anna Von Hausswolff, The Knife. Some classic jazz. I listen to a lot of film music, Bernard Herrmann, Jonny Greenwood and Hans Zimmer. I've gone off classical a little but still enjoy Mahler, Arvo Part, Richard Strauss, some Wagner.

What are your favourite films?

Ugetsu Monogatari, Citizen Kane, Persona, Lola Montes, Pierrot le Fou, The River (Renoir), Gertrud (Dreyer), Ulysses Gaze, Rear Window, His Girl Friday, L'Atalante, Voyage to Italy, Shanghai Express, Tokyo Story, Mulholland Drive, There Will Be Blood, and as a guilty pleasure Zabriskie Point.

Do you have words of inspiration?

Never compromise your art. Read and experience all you can. Keep an open mind. Don’t think of landscapes and portraits as old fashioned and irrelevant. Don't say no to opportunity. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Don’t settle on one idea or one style. Realize that there’s no such thing as quick fame. The greatest difficulty as an artist is staying the course.

Any final words?

I'm far from where I want to be but I consider myself lucky to be where I am.