By taking a look at the work in my house, I want to explore what is important to me about art. If it´s important enough for me to have brought all the way from England to Spain, and then to hang on my walls, I guess it must have some meaning to me.
This set of posters is from an advertising campaign of a Canadian metallurgic company. When I was a teenager, I saw them in The Economist and sent off for a set, which duly arrived a few weeks later. I stuck them with blu-tak onto my bedroom wall. Not for me the tennis player with no nickers, nor that Ferrari poster (though I did want a Porsche 928 [Ok, I still do.]). Some of the posters have words like "Agents of Change" and "Alchemy". I loved the simple design, the colour scheme, the fact that this was a metallurgic company. It wasn´t until I bought my second home that I was able to find a place to put them up, buying the cheap frames they are still in from IKEA. They have been on the walls in every home I have had since then, moving from hallway to bedroom to spare bedroom to kitchen. I value them like old friends, as they have taught me something of the value of growing up, doing things for myself and stability.
My daughter made this when she was very little. She wanted to make a picture with of candles, using tin foil, but she couldn´t find any glue, so she used electrical tape instead. The final effect is quite marvellous, and I´m sure you can see your own imagery. But for me it´s about determination, using what is available to make the best of a situation, achieving what you want to achieve, regardless of what convention says.
This was painted by a friend of mine when we were in a band together. The bottom half was used as the cover of our album. Of course, you can see whose work it is copying, but there´s nothing wrong with stealing a good idea. I spent a bit of money on a medium priced frame from IKEA for this one, and covered the backing board in blue material. It´s called "Over the Rainbow, Under the Weather" which is a great title for any work. The artist still makes me laugh with his one-liners on Facebook.
This is one of the first life drawings I did. I guess it´s based on Schiele, but it´s the fact that it´s a single line that I find wonderful about it. I am looking forward to being able to draw when I am 80.
Not exactly what I would call art, I saw this for 50p in Habitat. The frame cost significantly more than the print. I love the simplicity of the image, and it´s potential for symbolism.
I´m not a big fan of photography as art. I bought the poster and cards of the Radcliffe Infirmary when a friend of mine was staying there having his spine put back together. The image is of Triton, a powerful figure with fish´s tail. I wrote a poem for my friend "The Power of a Man". The rugby player is my son, who did a photo-shoot at university. The tree is the apple tree, Photoshopped by my wife´s grandmother, under which we got married.
I have always loved going to art galleries and museums. My favourite meal must be afternoon tea at a gallery. One day I went to Dean Clough in Halifax. An "unknown" graphic designer, Chris Vine was having a show. As I wandered around I realised that I loved this work. The colour, obviously, but also the symbolism, the simplicity. It is based on a the "Made Simple" series of books, using the colour scheme of that series. Each work was supposed to signify a different period of art. I never did find out what period this work is from, but it´s called "Spoilsport". I was persuaded that the price wasn´t THAT much money, and bought it with 12 months interest-free credit. Of course I couldn´t take it away for several weeks, and, in fact it had to be delivered as it wouldn´t fit into my car. It is a work that for my sums up the reason I make art, and I´ll explore that a little later.
As an act of faith, this work is incredible. When my children were young they bought me a watch for my birthday, which, without really thinking about it, I said I´d probably never wear as I hate watches. For my 40th birthday they decided to have this work made for me. I will always remember the trepidation with which they sat on the sofa, waiting for me to open it. Fortunately I loved it, and hung it on the wall immediately for all my friends to see when they came to my party later that day.
"Madonna and Child" is the work I made for my final piece of the OCNW Life Drawing Course. It is based on all sorts of research, and also compromises too. It wasn´t meant to have a religious theme to it, but that came out serendipitously as I completed the work.
These are works I made as part of my final piece for the OCNW Life Drawing and Portraiture Course. They are quick Photoshop drawings that helped me move towards my final work. Mounted in frames I found lying around in the first flat I lived in here in Barcelona.
"Abstract Heads Alex (unfinshed)" is perhaps the first work I made that I am totally convinced by. Again, serendipity played its part in the creation of this piece, which, if it had been like others in the series, would have had every inch of canvas covered in paint. To me, it works just as it is, and when shown in my first one man show, it was the piece most people liked. It is the inspiration for a great many experiments in my practice.
One of two works currently in the guest bedroom, this is one of the better "Capvespres" a series of works based on building collage over an existing work. It´s a reminder to me that good art can come from many places, but that these places don´t all have to be explored fully.
A work by my wife´s grandmother, this is a collage and ceramic piece created to celebrate our wedding.
This piece belongs to my wife, who bought it from an exhibition in the bar/restaurant in which she was working. All day every day she was exposed to it, and thus she fell in love with it.
This final piece was given to us by the artist and his wife to celebrate our wedding.
