Contemporary Surrealism Art Gallery Short Run Limited Editions of 10 only
about me;
...at Dickson Park on a winters day.
I grew up in the Newcastle beachside suburb of Merewether, NSW, Australia.
My first true passion in life was surfing and somehow, I managed to surfed my way through university and still complete a Diploma in Arts and a Degree in Education.
I taught Visual Arts in Secondary Schools for a short time while freelancing as a graphic designer.
I later moved to Adelaide and in 1999 I co-established an
Advertising and Design Agency in North Adelaide with
co-partner Cate who wrangled our corporate clients while I produced all the creative. During this time I also lectured in Visual Communications in Tertiary Institutes; teaching Design Principles, Design Thinking, Creative Process and software fundamentals for Applied Design.
I've always produced personal artwork - initially as large semi abstracted mixed media canvases but from 2019…
(Post Pandemic) I started investing a lot of time in developing my personal digital artwork. I settled on digital because it was much more compact & I could develop concepts much more quickly and re-assemble ideas that I previously struggled to resolve. And... I had developed considerable software skills regarding image manipulation.
My artwork isn't instantly recognised for having a constant thematic style with perpetual minor variations. I make a conscious effort not to be too repetitious. I guess that's a consequence of spending more about 15 years having to
re-invent / create fresh for every client project that came in the door and that practice has carried over into my approach to the development of my personal artwork. Occasionally I do variations on a concept but only if I can see several interesting ways of presenting it.
"Black Sheep" and "Entwined" are examples of this.
Thanks for being interested in my artwork :-)
about the work and process;
I describe my work as "contemporary surrealism"
The medium as "digital photåge"
( the combining of photographic images with digital fabrications including textures and 3d rendered figures )
All pieces are compiled from a large variety of resources;
I use Poser® to create female forms in 3D but the vast volume of props are gathered from a huge library of
personal photographs such as architectural, utilitarian and anatomical elements etc, plus wildlife, landscape & industrial shots, often taken by my son, as well as purchased stock library resource images and Public Domain historical photos like thylacine images.
I modify, manipulate, merge and often completely invent objects like "Bee Steamer" or "The Host" as well as combining human bodies and elements using Photoshop or Poser, blending them with seamless textures and patterns that I've created. The female in "Harbinger" is a merge of 3 different bodies, with one piece of her being a 3d render.
I compile everything in Adobe Photoshop® and sometimes use it to animate artwork before importing it into Apple Motion® or Final Cut® to apply added motion, special FX & audio before final export as moving clips.
Some artworks are over 200 layers deep inclusive of lighting and shadow effects in order to create the final version. It can take a long time to complete a piece and a lot of concepts never make it :-( but they're always held over as future resources.
I DO NOT endorse AI as a legitimate creative process.
about the media;
I predominantly create high resolution digital artwork as limited editioned (archival) ink works on paper but I also produce large format 1.2m tall canvas version which look stunning.
Each image becomes a Limited edition Ink on Paper print.
I print the paper editions myself to ensure rich vibrant colour using K3 Ultrachrome archival inks and "signature" series fine art archival paper stock with an inter-generational stability in much the same way as water colours do. I build all my images in high resolution so they retain crisp detail and beautiful colour gradation when scaled to 1.2m tall.
The canvases use the same archival inks on pre-coated fine weave art canvas and have a separate UV clear
top-coat lacquer applied for extra scuff & light protection.