" It is human nature that we want to see what is hidden by what we see " Rene Magritte

This latest series of works shows a marked change in both style and content since returning from Spain to live and work in the UK . The vibrant colourful canvasses have given way to a more austere, monochromatic colourscale.The traditional media of oil paint is replaced by charcoal and mixed media.

Using found photosnaps, old letters and papers as a point of departure - the themes of the passing of time, memory and the personal narrative are still present .Through a process of fragmenting and then reconstructing the materials, we see the image on the point of dissolving before coming back into sharp focus. This can be interpreted as a reflection of the uneven and often selective nature of human memory.

I have always been drawn to portraits that display enigmatic expressions - but a portrait is so much more than just an arrangement of features, it is also about the personal story of the subject, and it is this " hidden stuff ", below the surface which the viewer often looks for. With this in mind, I have retained an improvisational quality to the collages, allowing layers of material to peel away revealing random texts and images below the surface - This torn fractured quality also reflects the texture of urban walls. On visiting a city I often find myself photographing the unexpected beauty found on the weathered surfaces and walls.The multiple layers of ripped posters, papers, paint and random marks.create a dense textured patchwork which can be powerfully evocative, containing clues or suggestions about events long past.