It’s been nagging at me for a while, underscoring my working day if you will, that I really need to make more of an effort to keep a record of how this artistic life is developing, if only so that I have something to look back over during the inevitable spells of stagnation when I struggle to move forward. So I was mortified to discover I hadn’t written anything since late February. Where have the months gone?
I can feel myself entering a phase of reflection and consolidation, which is perhaps inevitable at this time of year, and whilst this is an alarming position to be in for someone who craves productivity, it is also understandable when I look back at the body of work I have managed to achieve these last few months. After all, creativity does seem to ebb and flow like waves and it demands a certain amount of reflection in order to move forward and evolve. So let’s treat this as an end-of-year round-up with the optimistic view that a new year will birth new ideas. I hope you can spare a few moments to indulge me.
The most significant development this year has been the birth of my ‘Under Pressure’ series, which marks not only a departure from the more straightforward animal heads and figurative sculptures I had been producing previously but is also reflective of an urge to express myself emotionally through my work. By daring to be bolder in my sculptures, I hope to explore ways to illustrate shared human emotions in a visual form without explanation. The idea being that by looking, you are compelled to consider how what you see makes you feel. And it has proved different for everyone.
The italian renaissance sculptor, Bernini, was the catalyst. I cannot help but be eternally enraptured by his ability to render cold, hard marble as living human flesh. It is truly staggering what he achieved, the ultimate master of his craft, and thus I was inspired to make my own naive attempts at recreating those pressure points where fingers press down urgently on skin. I began with an abstract idea of a hand gripping a human heart, squeezing it hard, with no intention of release, and it has continued to be quite the talking point, especially at the recent Wimbledon Art Fair, where reactions ranged from shock, to humour, to something altogether more sentimental. It can definitely be said that these pieces demand a personal response.
From there I moved on to other emotional experiences, travelling from a starting point of trauma, through to the playful, before moving onwards to pleasure and attraction, thereby challenging myself to depict two people interacting with one another. In all instances, the individuals’ identities are obscured by the fact that their faces are cut off just below eye level, the idea being that everyone can identify as them, rather than merely as an outsider looking on.
With this particular series I feel like I have found a new creative home and identity for now and as the range of human emotion is so vast I hope to continue it into the new year and beyond. They do not come without their own challenges though and I will of course continue to create other pieces alongside this range which are perhaps more naturally predisposed to being displayed in our own homes. But for now, may I wish you all a wonderful end of year, full of festivity and light. See you in 2026. X
