This is a collection of paintings and constructions made between 1988 and 1994. During that time I rented a succession of large studios in East London. This gave me space to make several series of paintings. These would be fixed to a long wall, allowing me to work on as many as ten at a time.
Several paintings are quite small, of the order of 30 cm x 30 cm. This were painted using oil and gel on wooden panels. However it was around this time that I developed uveitis, which you can read about here. Consequently I was forced to paint large pieces.
I returned to painting on cotton duck before hankering after making three-dimensional work.
These large constructions were made of wood, after which they were painted with polyester resin that was either mixed with fillers – iron, copper, and aluminium – or coated with powdered pigments during drying.
I often used chemicals to oxidize iron and copper. I applied this method to both paintings and constructions. However, this proved to be arduous and dangerous, so I stopped, after making the Iron Painting series, in 1994.
A common theme in this work is the juxtaposition of engineered and organic forms. Many of the polyester resin pieces also have an ecological theme, namely oil pollution. Haven (photo above) , probably the best example of this, is named after the MT Haven oil spill disaster of 1991.
