49 What kind of art do you prefer?
Anything that grabs my attention I guess. More often than not these days this tends to be geometric/op art, trompe l’oeil, sculpture/installation/anamorphosis, kinetic, abstract, surrealist, sculpture... work which pushes boundaries. I absolutely love Instagram and its community. It’s incredible to discover just how much unbelievable talent there is out there! Have you done any commissions recently?
Yes, I’ve done quite a few now but recently I painted the [SHF] piece for the Year of Making, this was an important one for me as it was an opportunity to do something for Sheffield. I’d actually come up with the project and design over two years ago but I was never able to self-finance painting it. When the festival was announced I knew I had to apply as it seemed to embody everything the festival stands for. I also painted an elephant for the Herd of Sheffield, which I’m proud to say raised £5,200 for the Children’s Hospital Charity. These were both very demanding in terms of time and effort but rewarding overall. I’ve a couple things in the pipeline but next year I hope to focus more on developing my own style and body of work. Which other artists do you admire?
Too many to mention! Check who I follow on Instagram, that scratches the surface. There are many who are forever raising the bar. It’s amazing to see how every single day there’s an awesome new piece of art from someone around the world. Creativity never stops, that in itself is inspirational.
What would be your dream project?
I’d love to paint massive walls, like a multi-storey office block or similar. I love the challenge of scaling a tiny design up to such a size. Large vehicles as well, like planes or ships, or structures with interesting perspectives... gotta aim big right?! More so though I’d love to collaborate to create huge fully immersive installations, using perspective anamorphosis and projection mapping, sculpture, light, sound and animation. Something for people to lose themselves in!
I’d love to paint massive walls, like a multi-storey office block or similar. I love the challenge of scaling a tiny design up to such a size.
NOVEMBER 2016 / ISSUE 35