Biography
Working primarily with acrylics I have pioneered my own style of mixed media pieces, abstracts, landscapes and portraits.
Using a unique method of low-tec environmentally friendly printing from hand-cut stencils combined with painting my work
can take many moods from vivid and challenging to dreamy and relaxed.Growing up in rural coastal Kenya, East Africa there were few material possessions so utensils and tools were made by hand from natural materials, and I continue this practice today keeping the creative process deliberately low-tech with hand made tools and wide use of recycled materials. My artistic appetite arose from the unique diversity of East African cultures encountered in my youth whilst creating a working farm from virgin forest. Seeing species of animals disappear from my province of Kenya within my own lifetime only serves to highlight my concerns for their future.
In my late teens a move to Lamu Island enabled me to establish a successful small business designing and hand printing canvases, fabrics and T-shirts for the tourist trade and signwriting for local businesses.
A move to the UK in 1989 continued the development of my artistic techniques. Work has been exhibited from as far north as St Andrews in Scotland down to the Millennium Dome in London. More recently there have been several exhibitions in the North of England which combine the power of my African heritage with impressions of modern day life. Graduating with a Visual Arts degree from Leeds Metropolitan University in 2006 my work is now receiving international recognition.
The innate artistic pulse running through my life has been applied in a wider social context; using art as a vehicle for positive change in society as a whole. I have enjoyed working with schools and local Youth Groups on a variety of art based projects. This work, whilst being challenging, is very rewarding and incorporates my belief that we all have a responsibility to support and encourage the younger generation.
Interested in exploring the conflicting relationship between nature and human lifestyles I seek to raise issues of environment, values, society and politics in vibrantly coloured acrylics. Most people only see a small part of the richness of life and need to open their minds to new ideas. The symbolic significance of the details in my paintings require careful study as the apparent chaos both conceals and reveals images. This unique style developed from the richness of my Kenyan origins tempered by the realities of the modern age, is clearly shown in recent work which focuses on endangered species from around the world and human responsibility for their peril.