Welcome to my Tomb! I trust those Chains aren't too Tight, Cobweb! Please, Tell Me a Little Bit about Yourself...
I live in a little house at the edge of the world with my wife Kt and my cats Baal and Sekhmet. Much of my time goes into trying to find out everything that has happened so far, and how the universe works.
Obviously these are pretty big subjects and I’ve not got very far with either of them yet. I try not to narrow it down too far in case I miss something, but my main areas of interest are pre-Roman Britain, the ancient Near East, and the Languedoc region of France from about 30,000 BC to the present day. I’m not really sure if my love of ancient history has influenced my love of mythology and ancient religions or the other way round. It’s hard to separate the two, so I don’t usually try. I also try not to confine myself to reading about these things because actually rummaging around in caves and ruins and seeing and touching for yourself will always give you a better understanding than you can get second hand.
I try and fill in the gaps between by listening to music that nobody likes, watching obscure and usually terrible horror films, and practising historical European martial arts. Rapier is my weapon of choice.
What Manner of Things Influence Your Work?
Everything that has happened so far, how the universe works, very old things, terrible horror films, and music that nobody likes. On top of that I have a lot of friends who are amazing artists, musicians, writers, and craftspeople and they push me to be better and see things in different ways.
How Long have You Been Creating your Sculptures?
I’ve been sculpting on and off since the late 80’s. About seven years ago I made a decision to abandon anything that was consciously commercial and create things that I would like to own myself. I have unusual tastes, but it’s been a pleasant surprise to discover that I’m not the only one.
Tell us a Bit about the Process of Making one of your Pieces...
Most of my sculptures have a long gestation period. An idea will float about in my head for a few weeks and then I’ll start to gather information and images which may come in useful. Once I’ve sifted through the possibilities I start to think more about the practicalities and constraints of the materials I’m going to use. In between there will usually be a lot of doodling.
Most of the sculptures start with a sort of skeleton made from wire and tin foil. On top of that I’ll build up a rough shape from polymer clay and gradually refine it until it matches the image in my head. It’s unusual for the image in my head to stay fixed throughout the process though. There’s usually a tipping point when the piece acquires its own personality and starts to assert independence. From then on it’s more of a discussion between me and the work as to what its final form will be. There have been times I’ve set out to do one thing and ended up with something entirely different. Especially if I’m working on something which is based on an ancient artefact I tend to learn a lot in the process. You get inside the head of the person who created the original and come to understand why they did things the way they did. I work quite slowly and the act of creation allows a lot of time for pondering and exploring ideas.
I don’t count the polymer clay version as the finished piece. Once that has been fired and sealed I create a silicone mould and I cast from that. I’ve been using synthetic gypsum set with a water based liquid acrylic. It gives a nice weight and you can get a lot of different finishes out of it.
Everything I do is strictly limited edition. Once the first piece is finished I use rather arcane methods involving gematria to decide on how many I’ll cast and simply destroy the mould when I’ve got to that number.
If you Were able to Meet One Horror Icon, Alive, Dead or Undead, Who Would it Be?
Only one? That makes it very hard. I think it would have to be the author Arthur Machen, who was a big influence on H.P. Lovecraft and who appears to have known far more than was strictly healthy about how the universe works.
Name One other Artist Whose work You Admire...
Most of the artists who I really admire are long dead, but I think currently I’d have to answer this question with, Anne Sudworth. There’s a power in her work that just doesn’t come across in pictures of it. You have to see it in the flesh and up close and personal to get any idea how good she really is. From a purely technical point of view what she does makes my head swim, on an intellectual level I love the way she uses a personal symbolism that is very subtle and very clever, but there’s also real magic in her pictures, and when I say that I mean it literally. Art should transform you, and hers does.
http://www.annesudworth.co.uk/enter.html
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