"Collateral Damage"; "Unfortunate Incident"; "This happens during war"; Act of terror vs 'justified' killing; Thou shalt not...er..what was that again?
Are we a product, of a product of a product? The barage of 'eat this' and 'buy that'. Doom scrolling; endless feedback loops; another pull on the one-armed-bandit. SEO or S.O.L? You don't battle the loop; you step out of it. How? Breathe, notice: look up - turn stuff off; activate something hidden: your own sleeping Dragon. (We like Dragons.)
"Collateral Damage"; "Unfortunate Incident"; "This happens during war"; Act of terror vs 'justified' killing; Thou shalt not...er..what was that again?
One day He appeared, quite literally, on my left shoulder. At first it was a declaration and a rejection of the confinements and cruel teachings of that to which I had been subjected. If this was evil then how does one explain the desert dwelling god?
Then, as my fire cooled I could see the integration of light and dark - I could see the upright alignment and the inverted manifestation; one was not more - or less- pure than the other.
Now he sits at my left hand to guard as well as to balance; as a reminder when things go too ‘astral’; to protect when one becomes sacrificially too nice.
This website is a painting; it is also a reaction to search engine optimisation, backlinks, social media and every other algorithmic change that forces us to subscribe to something to become a product of a product. It is also an experiment to see who notices above the red-sea of social media. You don't need to sign up, you don't need to link with me, you just need to look and, most importantly, feel. If you want to get in touch, there is a contact section.
I have had many websites in the past, including optimized 'commercial sites', but they all distracted from my heart-mission. In the end I needed to return to simplicity and use my site as a statement, rather than a flat portfolio with 'buy me now' buttons. I wanted to present something different, something 'other'. I offer an experience rather than a shopping cart.
I deleted LinkedIn today - it felt good, really good. I deleted Flipboard the other day too. "So I have to open another account to get traffic to my website and engage with other users.......oh, you just want me to bulk up your platform so you can make more money - sorry, I don''t work for you." So how do i get traffic?
I'm still here aren't I?
Self isolation away from the horrors of family at an early age taught me focus and developed an obsessive drive for something ‘other’. This led me to weird and wonderful internal worlds where I could roam unfettered away from the monstrous glare of those who would bind me and turn me into human bonsai.
As this developed further it all became focused obsession; whether that was teaching myself flamenco guitar, classical Chinese and so much more. My flamenco took me to open air concerts in Costa Rica while Chinese gave me internal mystical pines and moonlit nights; then there was ten years in the USA - that was an ‘interesting’ time. And of course Arabic and sleeping in the desert as well as waking up on park benches with Big Ben as my alarm clock……[tip of the iceberg].
This wonderful obsessive madness eventually became mixed with linseed oil and I began to express it all on canvas. However, when the gloves came off along with my portraiture, cubsim and abstract art, I also started to include the monsters of self as well as some of the infernal creatures I have encountered on my journey - not all of which were bad.
Yet even here, there is respite when it dawned on me that what we have been taught about the 'evil one' is propaganda and distortion and that the battle of good vs. evil, light vs dark is unwinnable as the Gods of the Old religions were transformed into the devils of the new.
Now it's time for a different 'parable' for 'As above, so below'; and once you know that the outer macrocosm reflects your inner microcosm then you will glimpse True freedom.
I have exhibited in London, Yorkshire, Devon and have shipped my art worldwide including New York, Colorado, Miami, Hong Kong, Australia and Europe.
All works are oil on canvas.
My studio is at:
Studio 1, Amanartis, The Chapel, Vicarage Road Cemetery, Vicarage Road, Watford, WD18 0EJ