“The hand of man.”

Posted on January 9, 2017August 3, 2019 Leave a comment

This is an ongoing series of work under the working title of “The hand of man”.

“The hand of man (acceptable losses)”, conte and pastel on paper, 30 x 35 cm

“The hand of man (heroes)”, conte on paper, 30 x 30 cm

“The hand of man (our capacity for invention)”, conte on paper, 30 x 40 cm

“The hand of man (in the name of god – Wilfred de Bruijn)”, conte and pastel on paper, 20 x 25cm

“The hand of man (dispossessed of Kabul)”, conte and pastel on paper, 30 x 30 cm

“The hand of man (Trayvon Martin)”, conte and pastel on paper, 25 x 25cm

“The hand of man (Gaza still life 2)”, conte on paper, 30 x 30 cm

“The hand of man (Ali Ismail Korkmaz)”, conte and pastel on paper, 20 x 30cm

“The hand of man (mothers of Chibok)”, conte and pastel on paper, 40 x 20 cm

“The hand of man (Syria)”, conte and pastel on paper, 20 x 32 cm

“The hand of man (gaza still life 1)”, conte and pastel on paper, 30 x 30 cm

“The hand of man (spoils of war)”, conte and pastel on paper, 20 x 20cm

“The hand of man (Atefah Sahaaleh)”, conte and pastel on paper, 20 x 30cm

“The hand of man (dispossessed)”, conte and pastel on paper, 20 x 30 cm

“The hand of man (the ordnance legate)”, conte and pastel on paper, 20 x 30cm

“The hand of man (Syria)”, conte and pastel on paper, 20 x 32 cm

“The hand of man (killed in the name of god – Mohammed Qataa)”, conte and pastel on paper, 30 x 30cm

“The hand of man (Woolwich)”, conte and pastel on paper, 58 x 75cm

back to work chronology menu

“Behemoth”

Posted on January 7, 2017August 3, 2019 1 Comment

Inspired by Dreyer’s 1928 film La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc, I made over two hundred sketches and thirty finished paintings. I chose the subject as a metaphor for an apparent loss of political faith in a rational, caring world. The paintings were exhibited in the crypt of St Martin in the Fields Church, Trafalgar Square, London in September 2010.

“Sykes-Picot”, oil on canvas, 60 x 60 cm, 2010

“Hutton”, oil on canvas, 91 x 91 cm, 2010

“Frongoch”, oil on canvas, 60 x 90 cm, 2010

“Dreyfus”, oil on canvas, 91 x 91 cm, 2010

“Matrix Churchill”, oil on canvas, 99 x 99 cm, 2010

“Halabja”, oil on canvas, 90 x 90 cm, 2010

“For Honours”, oil on canvas, 40 x 40 cm, 2008

“Verdun”, oil on canvas, 40 x 40 cm, 2010

‘Halabja’, conte and chalk on paper, 50 x 65cm

‘Dreyfus’, conte and chalk on paper, 50 x 65cm

“Messines”, oil on canvas, 91 x 91 cm, 2010

‘Somme’, conte and chalk on paper, 50 x 65cm

“Silvertown”, oil on canvas, 91 x 91 cm, 2010

‘Novisad’, conte and chalk on paper, 50 x 65cm

“Seasoning Camps”, oil on canvas, 91 x 91 cm, 2010

‘Moral Panic’, conte and chalk on paper, 50 x 65cm

“Public Interest”, oil on canvas, 61 x 61 cm, 2010

‘Savenay’, conte and chalk on paper, 50 x 65cm

‘Frongoch’, conte and chalk on paper, 50 x 65cm

‘The Penal Laws’, conte and chalk on paper, 50 x 65cm

‘Messines’, conte and chalk on paper, 50 x 65cm

back to work chronology menu

“The Disasters of War”

Posted on January 6, 2017August 3, 2019 2 Comments

Frustrated with the mainstream television news mainly focusing on young men in their coverage of the Syrian refugee crisis I instead found more balanced coverage with a variety of internet sources. I took video captures of the refugees and instead focused on the children, women and elderly; these individuals were the source material for many of these drawings. As I was building this collection of drawings I was also preparing for an exhibition at La Neomudejar de Atocha in Madrid and I made a connection to the work of one of my favourite artists (Goya) with the working title of “The Disasters of War”.
These drawings were exhibited partly in Madrid and partly at Brugier Rigail in Paris early 2016. Some have also been pasted up in streets (Liverpool and Watford in the UK and Brest in France).

” ¡Miren qué graves!”, conte, pastel and aerosol on paper, 100 x 110 cm, 2016

“The Disasters of War 4”, conte and chalk on newsprint, 30 x 20 cm, 2016

” antes del vuelo de las brujas”, conte, pastel and aerosol on paper, 100 x 100 cm, 2016

“boat children 1”, conte and chalk on paper, 50 x 75 cm, 2016

“escapan entre las llamas”, conte, pastel and aerosol on paper, 100 x 120 cm, 2016

“The Disasters of War 3”, conte and chalk on newsprint, 30 x 20 cm, 2016

“boat children 4”, conte and chalk on paper, 50 x 80 cm, 2016

“The Disasters of War 5”, conte and chalk on newsprint, 30 x 20 cm, 2016

“The Disasters of War 10”, conte and chalk on newsprint, 30 x 20 cm, 2016

“The Disasters of War 11”, conte and chalk on packaging, 40 x 20 cm, 2016

“The Disasters of War 7”, conte and chalk on newsprint, 30 x 20 cm, 2016

“The Disasters of War 9”, conte and chalk on newsprint, 30 x 20 cm, 2016

back to work chronology menu

“L’abri Sadi Carnot”

Posted on January 5, 2017August 3, 2019 2 Comments

These drawings were exhibited at Maison de la Fontaine, Brest, France in September 2016. Their making took place over the two preceeding years. I made them in response to discovering the story of the loss of lives in a civilian shelter that was being used by occupying forces to store munitions (in contravention of the Geneva Convention). On September 9 1945 there was an explosion in which as many as 900 people may have lost their lives. There is a memorial of names of individuals that were known to have been present, however the force and heat was so intense that hundreds were never formally identified. This piece of work consisted of 99 drawings of anonymous faces as an attempt to personalise the horror and loss of the event.
The complete set of drawings “L’abri Sadi Carnot (all the people they could have been)” was donated to the city of Brest and its Museum of Art and copies were printed to exhibit permanently in the tunnel itself.

“L’abri Sadi-Carnot (all the people they could have been)”, conte and chalk on paper, 30 x 30 cm

back to work chronology menu

Online art

Posted on January 4, 2017June 27, 2017 3 Comments

Way back when… in the early nineties, I remember a gallerist refusing to exhibit my work as long as I had an online presence. His gallery’s policy, and he wasn’t alone, was that their artists would not have web sites of their own. Basically these galleries didn’t want artists selling direct and cutting them out of the loop – which was more of a judgment on the gallerist’s level of trust than the artist (all artists understand the importance of galleries). Well, twenty years or more on, it is clear that the internet has hugely benefited both artists and galleries. Artists who previously found their work difficult to get accepted by commercial galleries were at least able to show it online; I think it’s probably one of the driving forces behind the ongoing popularity of Urban Art. As the tools of e-commerce became freely available to those without web and programming skills the market place broadened and opened the doors to the benefit of both artist and audience.
When I was a kid my parents were always buying me art books for birthdays and christmas presents; it was a simple choice for them and if I received an art book for a gift then I was a happy bunny. I have kept every art book I was given and I now have a personal library of near 500 titles on art alone. One of the main reasons for this love of art books was that it enabled me to study the work of artists when I would never be in the financial position to ever see the works in the flesh, at the world’s public museums and galleries.
So putting my work online also performs the same function. Not everybody is in the position to be able to drop everything and financially prioritise visiting galleries over feeding a family. For some people even art books are a luxury, but the internet is a far more democratic beast in that regard. So, over the next couple of weeks, I am going to start posting some more ‘exhibition sets’. Most of them are sets of work from past gallery exhibitions. Some are just sets of work that worked under a common theme or idea that interested me for a while.
There’s been a lot of theoretical art-bollocks written on the subject of “The Work of Art In The Age of Mechanical Reproduction” (Walter Benjamin), suggesting the idea of the loss of the ‘aura’ of the authenticity of viewing original art by reproduction. But for the greater number of people who love the visual arts, it’s the gallery catalogues, published monographs and now the internet that make the pursuit so easy (and affordable) to maintain.
So I hope those that want to see my work are now able to see a little bit more.