2014 - ONGOING

Filling the Tins

When my mother passed away I was left considering and contemplating my memories of her. High among these were some intense memories around her cooking, baking, and the things she used to say to me and my siblings. Eventually I began making a work that was part memorial, part penance. I was inspired by the Japanese concept of Kintsugi to gild a damaged dinner set with gold leaf, build a dinner table with representations of my mothers life included in it, and embroider a selection of my mother's sayings onto a tablecloth.

VIEW PROJECT
2009 - 2011

...a poorly remembered childhood

This body of work had its genesis in my move from New Zealand to Hong Kong. I am very interested in memory. These images capture places that hold significant memories from my childhood in Christchurch. Or do they? Memories are soft and delicate things, and they change over time. As I documented these places, I became increasingly aware of the cultural and societal impositions on my memories. This project was halted after the tragic and destructive earthquakes of 2011.

VIEW PROJECT
2006

The Pleasure of Beauty

Part of an ongoing exploration of my upbringing and the influence bible stories and religious art have on my spirituality. Colourful images accompanying Sunday school classes as a young child served as my introduction to art. Or did they? Maybe subsequent exposure to art has influenced my memories. Regardless, patterns and beauty in the everyday world continue to inspire my work, and these pieces ask questions of clear memories and potentially flawed ones.

VIEW PROJECT
2018

Instructions

I find the use of instructions in works by both Yoko Ono and Sol LeWitt fascinating. This allows the artwork to take on multiple forms depending on the interpretation and realisation of the work. I have been, for some time, exploring ideas around chance, randomness, and the imprecise nature of language and translation. I run workshops for photographers who wish to refine their personal vision and direction. These works come from an expansion of the exercises that I developed for the participants and allow for a wide range of interpretation and realisation.

VIEW PROJECT
2021

What was that you said?

Invited at short-notice to participate in an exhibition that referenced the contemporary art world, I made this series of somewhat tongue in cheek works that critique the art market based on snippets of conversations overheard at art fairs and art galleries mixed in with a few art historical references.

VIEW PROJECT
2010

Short Stories

A substantial portion of my work involves finding beauty in the mundane and overlooked. I am inspired by language and visual storytelling. Drawing on chance and random actions that I have limited control over, these works are an attempt to tell a story through abstracted images, inspired by John Berger's ideas on photography and Chinese calligraphy's emphasis on aesthetic harmony.

VIEW PROJECT
2004

In search of meaning and beauty in the modern world

According to the critic Northrup Frye, a religious painter can produce beauty only when commissioned to paint Madonnas, but must paint cruelty and horror when asked to paint a Crucifixion. These works are my way of exploring and considering Frye's ideas on beauty in art.

VIEW PROJECT
2020

Beauty in Danger

Developed during the COVID19 pandemic this body of work rests on two ideas: the beauty that can be found in dangerous objects and the fragility of human existence. My process in making these is informed by a long term interest in medical and scientific illustration and a habit of looking for beauty in overlooked and uncommon places.

VIEW PROJECT
2011

Affective Portraits

In this collaborative project with fellow artist Adrian Wong we explored concepts around identity, memory, and language through non-traditional emotional communication in family and commercial studio portraiture. We set up a series of temporary photography studios in Hong Kong and asked participants to simulate and elicit a range of emotions through various exercises. The resulting images aim to expand the medium of studio portraiture to include a wider range of human emotions beyond just cookie cutter smiles.

VIEW PROJECT
2008

Mixed Messages

There is great beauty in language and its ability to describe, among other things, people, objects, and artworks. Combining this with my growing interest in Chinese calligraphy's aesthetic harmony I began to produce a series of abstract images utilising markings on Hong Kong's sports fields. A curator's comment about the resemblance of one set of images to Chinese characters prompted me to explore the idea further, resulting in a larger body of work that focuses on the abstraction of colour, shape, and rhythm.

VIEW PROJECT
VIEW PROJECT ->

Memory Fragment/Fragment Memory

2023
|
PROJECTS

Memory Fragment/Fragment Memory

view project ->
VIEW PROJECT ->

What was that you said?

2023
|
PROJECTS

What was that you said?

view project ->
VIEW PROJECT ->

From The Shoulders Of Giants

2023
|
PROJECTS

From The Shoulders Of Giants

view project ->
VIEW PROJECT ->

The Disconsolation Of Art

2023
|
PROJECTS

The Disconsolation Of Art

view project ->
VIEW PROJECT ->

...a poorly remembered childhood

2023
|
PROJECTS

...a poorly remembered childhood

view project ->
VIEW PROJECT ->

The Pleasure of Beauty

2023
|
PROJECTS

The Pleasure of Beauty

view project ->
VIEW PROJECT ->

In search of meaning and beauty in the modern world

2023
|
PROJECTS

In search of meaning and beauty in the modern world

view project ->
VIEW PROJECT ->

after ee cummings and others: an abstraction of the portrait

2024
|
PROJECTS

after ee cummings and others: an abstraction of the portrait

view project ->

Sincere flattery, South China Morning Post 48 Hours Magazine

Sincere flattery, South China Morning Post 48 Hours Magazine

read review ->

A Portrait Behind The Portrait

A Portrait Behind The Portrait

read review ->

A review of the From The Shoulders of Giants show at Blindspot Gallery

A review of the From The Shoulders of Giants show at Blindspot Gallery

read review ->

An Interview with the editor of Art Flow Press

An Interview with the editor of Art Flow Press

read review ->

Hong Kong Artists to Watch, Peak Magazine March 2015, Peak Magazine, 2015

Hong Kong Artists to Watch, Peak Magazine March 2015, Peak Magazine, 2015

read review ->