Where are you from: Shotts, Scotland.
Occupation: Artist/Architect.
Art Form: Sculptor / Painter / Installation Artist.
Neighborhood you live in: Hell’s Kitchen.
5 words to describe your personality: Bemused, Perplexed, Uptight, Insecure and Paranoid.
First found art (or it found you): When I was a very young kid we used to have a small Encyclopedia at home and there were some paintings in it, the only vivid memory is of “Burning Giraffe” by Salvador Dali, I guess that was my first encounter with “art”.
Then, when I went to architecture school we had a class called “The History of Modern Art” first thing on a Monday morning. I remember a lot of people falling asleep in the class but I was really fascinated by it. Just the fact that people were trying to express their situation through pictures/shapes and so on, seemed very interesting to me…somehow more real than the math’s and science based narrative I had experienced up until then.
Process when creating a piece: I try to get out of the way and let the material and context talk to me, rather than have my personality (see above) impose upon the particular situation. Meditation really helps with this, by slowing down my thinking mind, the space opens up for the context/situation to express itself or its potential…then you just have to do the work.
Projects are you working on now: I have an exhibition currently on show at Edison Price Gallery in LIC until November 2018. It is a stairwell installation consisting of 12 different pieces made from recycled materials and based on the cycle/elements of a single breath. The pieces are configured so as to be experienced at different viewpoints as one ascends/descends through the stair/space.
Describe your work: My aspiration is for it to be Empty, Open and Meaningful…
Yoga helping with your creativity: Yoga definitely helps.
Firstly, the down regulation/parasympathetic aspect of Yoga helps open up space to perceive things in a more integrated/creative way.
Secondly, the anatomical/muscoskeletal aspect really helps with understanding how things work in the physical world, e.g. If you are trying to manifest an idea into physical form, then awareness of how form/energy responds in that environment is a very useful tool to have.
Creative influences: In Fine Art Marcel Duchamp for taking the idea of what art could be into a completely new, revolutionary and quite meditative/mindblowing direction.
Strummer/Jones…They were a political/musical foundation for me.
House Music + 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine…people don’t realize it but 90% of art & design culture today was spawned by the House/Acid scene of late 80’s early 90’s. Unfortunately, a lot of that initial inspiration/creativity has been hijacked by ill-informed copyists and marketers much to the further ruination of our built environment.
Typical day in your life: It’s a cliché but I try to approach every day as unique despite particular repetitive patterns.
I work for myself so there is flexibility there which is great. I get up pretty early and I always try to do at least one activity, Yoga, strength training or swim…then I work around that.
I try to practice meditation/mindfulness throughout the day and as part of my work, to highly varying degrees of accomplishment.
I try to do something unselfish and I like to give my self a treat of some kind.
Favorite artist: Oh…very very difficult to say…probably Marcel Duchamp…he was a punk, a rebel, a warrior and a smart ass!
Dhamma_Rig, 2018 – 200 no. recycled/interlocked aluminum extrusions, 16″ x 16″ x 24″.
Dark Farm, 2017 – 100 radially arranged recycled aluminum extrusions, 20” diameter.
Prana, 2017 – 230 x various mount/size, recycled white painted discs, 24” x 132”.
Exhale, 2017 – 1 x Raised mounted 4’-0” diameter, recycled rusted steel ring.
O, 2017 – Acrylic painted plywood panel, 24″ x 24″.
Being and Emptiness, 2016 WIP – Pen and Ink (series of 12), 36” x 24″.
Light + Sky, 2004 – Composite Photograph, 36” x 11.5”.
Standard Unstoppages, 2018 – 15 wall mounted 50″ recycled copper extrusions, 36” x 72”.
