I express myself in painting. I can have fun with colour, which is my colour, not the colour of film or digital which is decided by people in white coats or science geeks.
My photography is mostly black and white by choice. The reason photography in my opinion lends itself to black and white is by cutting out the distraction of colour. When I see black and white I go straight to the image. It also lends itself to surrealism which is what the camera is a perfect vehicle for.
In painting, I have no education in techniques. I guess I could be described as a primitive, or an outsider, in the same way my photography is self-taught. I realised that Picasso had more or less covered painting when I was in my teens. He cut off painters’ balls. Every image had the giant shadow of his influence.
I decided just to paint what or any way I felt like: no school, no style, no pleasing a gallery. This in turn makes it possible for anyone to paint, as long as one has a story to tell. Art without a story is just decoration.
The paintings here are based on the Annunciation. The idea came when I saw Leonardo da Vinci’s least successful painting of the Annunciation. The Annunciation has a comic Woody Allen script about it. A bloke apparently telling a young virgin that she is going to give birth to the son of God. Worthy of Netflix. I don’t think the name Mary was in use at the time. Her name was probably Miriam.
Another theme I use is Hitler killed the duck, which is based on the London Blitz that I lived through until I was about eight years old. I have also invented a painter called Wot who also paints anyway he likes.
So, have fun. Paint what you like and don’t worry about the academics.
