A Statement From The Artist

MIn my work I paint an eerie strangeness that follows me in the back of my mind, living day to day with an uncanny feeling of something so hard to place. Navigating through bouts of depression and anxiety through painting, I depict these feelings through strange characters and places that represent me, my home, or the inner workings of my psyche. As a fan of surrealist horror in film and art, a genre I feel touches on distressing topics with a lightness and humour, I create my pieces with acrylic on canvas to mimic the neon artificial colours you may see in films such as Suspiria (1977) and the work of David Lynch such as Twin Peaks (1990). Another inspiration of mine is Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! (1969) a programme that has been with me since childhood, through some of the most tumultuous times in my life which is no wonder why it has such a big impact on my work, also helping me to keep light-hearted in times of darkness. The themes in my work often centre around death, with ghosts and ghouls and skeletons, but my main goal really is to present these characters with an air of joy to them. This is a presentation of myself in a way. Looking at my life through a lens of humour and fearfulness, my paintings expose my inner world of monsters and melancholy. Colour is a tool in my work, much like in the aforementioned film and television, it’s used to create an unsettling atmosphere, the world in which I am creating is dreamlike and surreal. Much like in my painting ‘Bruschetta’ the figure is in a strangely lit kitchen, cutting tomatoes, something so normal is now abnormal, emulating my own thoughts and feelings whilst trying to live my life day to day. By painting my own dissociative state, I’ve found that I dwell in my own feelings of melancholy and ultimately wanting more, never being satisfied in this life of the unknown, even while I’m cutting tomatoes in my kitchen.