some inspiration

Charlie White, 

Philip Guston 

& Peter Max

A Virtual Reality

I'm taking part in a real exhibition which was curated from a guy's facebook friends list. Michael Picoron has put together the show, called "Facebook's Friends- A Virtual Reality" in Maubeuge, France. So pop on the bus and check out my six legged yellow pussy.

MY INFLUENCES PART 1

Film

• The Evil Dead
• The Tenant
• The Thing
• Little Murders
• Buckaroo Banzai
• Uzumaki
• Tron
• Possession
• Cowboy Bebop (the animated movie and the series)
• Warriors of The Wind (aka Nausicaa)
• La Planete Sauvage
• Repulsion

I've just realised that this will be an enormous list. I'll leave it at this for now.

NEW WORK N PROGRESS

This is a piece that I've titled "This Was England". I recently got hold of some old wrestling posters from 1977. Wrestling was a big thing when I was a kid, every Saturday at 4pm on ITV we'd watch a bunch of fat old leotarded blokes squashing each other on the canvas. I remember the patriotism of the whole thing quite vividly. That, and my dad getting into it as he'd had a couple of pints in the afternoon. Unlike big, pumped up and brash American wrestling, this was crap "seaside entertainment" British wrestling. There'd be a load of grannies in the audience prodding the wrestlers with their walking sticks and shouting obscenities just beyond the range of the microphones. My dad took me to watch it live when I was 11. I've never sen him so excited. Even as a child I appreciated that these guys were playing the part of working class superheroes. Unlike the oiled up toned monsters of today, these guys would probably be seen in their local pub on a weekend. They certainly had the build of heavy drinkers. 

MINK SCHMINK

The preview night of my latest show was last night. Some interesting work, especially the piece by Charlie gates- definitely a talent to look out for. Forgot to ask her how she stuck the hands to the dartboard. There will be a limited edition print available of one of my pieces "The Don", seen here- click on the "Mink Schmink" link above to go to the gallery site and find out more.

I Love Erwin

Nothing to say except that Erwin Wurm is god.

BLIND ANGLE (click me)

Today I joined Blind Angle, one of the UK's most well known online contemporary art galleries. It's very exciting to be selling work alongside Banksy, Faile and Takashi Murakami. I could do with selling some work, as I'm fucking broke at the moment. Don't have enough for canvas. Can't get any dvds out and i'm not going down the pub.  Somehow I doubt that Takashi Murakami worries about whether he can afford a small pouch of Golden Virginia whilst he's knocking up a new handbag for Louis Vuitton.

 Also, my work will be in a new exhibition "Mink Schmink" at The Wilson Williams Gallery  in Hackney for a month- preview night is Friday Jan 16th from 6-9pm...... more details on this at www.wilsonwilliamsgallery.com 

it's a group show and should be very interesting.

Last year

Some pics from my first solo show: "Cosmic Slop" last October at the Nellie Dean, Soho. 

Trombipulation

I'm sitting across the table from my older son (9)  watching him draw. Children have  a unique touch when they get creative. Their minds haven't been filled with all the rules yet. As a result, their work has a fresh, unashamed confidence that is so full of life. Grown artists spend their whole lives trying to "unlearn" and work with such innocence. Self consciousness, for me, is the biggest stepping stone to true creativity. The fear of what other people will think, and the fear of failure. It's actually impossible for a grown up to draw like a child. When you see kid's drawings in films you can always tell when they've been done by an adult. I reckon that part of it is scale. Because the pencil is so large in comparison to the child's hand, the resulting lack of control results in a coarser drawing style. I might try taping my hand up to restrict wrist movement  to see what effect that has.

This piece is an exploration in order and chaos. I was listening to Public Enemy when I made it. "Trombipulation" is the name of a P-Funk album by Parliament. 

On a clear day you can see forever

I like working on wood. The natural texture and patterns create an interesting raw background, and the wood absorbs paint in quite random ways. This piece uses an album cover from a strangely psychedelic musical starring Barbra Streisand. I usually hate musicals but this one is pretty surreal. Click on the title above for a video clip of the song. I love the ending, when she is montaged into the sky and surrounded by crazy colours. It reminds me of my favourite pop video "Can you feel it" by the Jacksons. This piece will be available at www.1loveart.com

SOUL DOLL

I've started to use record covers on my work- records from the 50s to the 70s have oversaturated printing- which makes them feel super-real. Even though I use record I've specially bought for this purpose it kills me to cut them up and use them in this way, but I'd rather that they were on someone's wall than languishing in a pile of unplayed vinyl in some charity shop.  A pulsing mass of blind albino baby cat-like animals spilling over a chick in a bikini. There's something sexual in this, but I'm not quite sure (and I don't know if I want to know) what it is. This piece will soon be available at www.1loveart.com

I'm a bit lost at the moment. not sure what to do with my work. Got some exhibitions on the way soon so maybe I'll get some ideas then. I'm too impatient. Here's a little sketch I did last night. Nazi robots are the worst.

Stuff

Some random drawing. That's it for today. I want a big wall to get freaky on. if you have a big wall let me know.

Clowns

I'm currently working on new pieces on board- plywood and particleboard. The density allows me to permanently glue found objects to it. It also provide a solid base to draw on- canvas can flex too much at times.

This piece uses elements of 1970's German circus posters which I've got my hands on. Clowns are mad. Terrifying and mad. I've never seen a friendly clown in my life. One of my favourite movies is "Killer Klowns From Outer Space" by the Chiodo Brothers- it best sums up my anti clown sentiment. Check out the link. Click on the title at the top of the page.

Journey

I love automatic drawing-this was an animation project from a few years back which was totally unplanned- each frame was invented as I went along. Took about 9 hours straight. The music is a track called "Tuane" by hammer. A lot of my work is inspired by funk, soul and jazz music. I'd love to make pop videos for old Herbie Hancock tracks. The Death Wish theme in particular would lend itself to some pretty dark and stylish visuals.

Welcome

This is my first blog post.

Welcome to the world of Starchild. Art, news, random scribblings and stuff is all to come. Stay tuned....