Could you talk a bit about your background, and what inspired you to become an artist?
To be honest I didn't come from the most creative background. I grew up in a small city called Lichfield near Birmingham. I was the odd one out in my friendship group at school but I always enjoyed making things and knew I wanted to be an artist since I was about 15. I had a really good teacher at school and loved being in the art classroom, this encouraged me to take 2 A-levels in Art, so it’s likely I have Mrs Wright to thank for inspiring me. After school at the age of 18 I moved to London to do a Fine Art Foundation at Byam Shaw St Martins and haven't looked back.
Could you describe the development of your vision as an artist?
I think my development has been very linked to my awareness and understanding of materials. Along with my desire to constantly refine and increase the level of finish and quality of things I make.
As I’ve got older I’ve got less concerned about justifying what I’m making and more confident, believing in myself, so thats takes the pressure off and saves a lot of time procrastinating and over thinking ideas. This has allowed me to develop the making side of things, so encouraged me to create things larger, with new materials, using new methods and widening my vision and scope of what is possible.
What are the main influences for your work right now? What do you do, or where do you go to find creative inspiration?
I rarely go searching inspiration, I certainly am inspired by other artists from past and present, as well as architecture and design. However I think my main influences at the moment are quite subconscious and span so many different things it’s hard to put my finger on particular aspects. Like we touched upon in the artist panel talk though, I think often inspirations come from less academic references such as memories from computer games, album covers, everyday things like that. I’m also sure the visual overload of social media, particularly Instagram, certainly get logged in my head somewhere too. I see so much art, design, graphics, architecture… It would be impossible to not get inspired by that stuff, sadly it’s just hard to remember all the names of things and what you've actually seen.
Learning to how to make things is quite a big factor in what actually inspires me to create new works. The desire to develop and learn new skills and techniques drives me to make bigger and better things.
What does the word ‘perfectionism’ mean to you?
A constant desire to create something that is flawless. I’ve tried making things that are much more loose, less time consuming and more free spirited. However I don't get the fix I need working this way. That’s not to say I don't like and admire that kind of work at all… I’ve just realised for me personally to get that sense of pride and achievement when finishing a work, it needs to have a high level of skill and refined techniques.
When you critique part of a work with a minor flaw, like a small bleed of paint on a masked hard edge painting, or a tiny gap between two wood veneers, then mention it to a friend or peer and get the response - “only you would ever notice that”, I think that would sum up what being a perfectionist is.
What has your experience been like working on an online exhibition as opposed to a physical exhibition?
Physical exhibitions will always be more enjoyable but I do think online exhibitions will be more and more popular even when Covid calms down. I’m happy to embrace it and I think it’s been a refreshing opportunity to think of new ways to allow more insight into your work and practice that previously you wouldn't have. Creating videos, taking more detailed pictures of your work but also insight into your practice. Like the video I made for this show, It allows viewers to discover a lot more about the artwork and process than they would just seeing it in a gallery. So in that way, personally I think it could benefit because sometimes a lot of what I make takes an awful lot of time and can get overlooked, so giving this added insight could increase the appreciation and understanding of some works.
What has been your most exciting or interesting lockdown discovery?
The possibilities of making artwork with anything available and in different environments. I’ve created works I never would have before whilst working from home. It has opened up several new avenues and ideas which is very exciting.