Between the 4th and 10th of October, I will be participating in 'The Art Of Making Exhibition' at Horsebridge Arts Centre, Whitstable , Kent. Here is my Artists Statement.

30 years ago I tried to subvert the 'Old Guard' and the New' through the artery of Painting. I thought I'd transform myself through Painting and not through ideology, and the medium of Painting was old hat enough to go under the radar of unwanted political interest.
In this exhibition I reflect on a personal change that mirrors an interest in recycled 3D figurines that I paint. I also ask the question: Is Painting simply a 2D bully of canvas and board that imposes, restricts and dictates? Or can it process more positive thematic interest?
My starting point. As a junky of charity shop leftovers,I paint objects into surreal patterns with vibrant colours conflicting and disrupting, but often whimsically and without any agenda that I'm hiding. It is because that I'm often drawn to the menace and the ridiculous that I adapt 'homemade' papier mache saber teeth and tusks and graft them into the objects. The focal point here is evolving my passion for Painting, so I paint to extend and dramatize the medium beyond the veil of painted camorflage, rather than prioritizing any other technology or medium. But I recycle and re-make the same pieces crossed with different objects, creating new arrangements and new possibilities. Rotating ideas and new possibilities allows me some self-sufficiency, but a single finite piece of work is often compromised by the fact that it is inter-dependant in another context.I don't know whether I'll rearrange them during the exhibition or not. Perhaps this is my contribution to the Art of Making?