A London based artist.
I do not comply with the notion that an artist needs a ‘signature style’.
I do not fixate on any one medium, because I consider that each piece requires a unique approach.
I do not conform to a singular theme, as to reflect the diversity of my interests.
Instead, I perceive my practice as a series of projects and not a continuous endeavour. Those projects are often very different from one another, yet they all explore a single fundamental topic – human nature. More precisely I focus on the subject of memory and on discussing the emotions we experience, often attempting to provoke a certain emotional response from the viewer. For example, a series titled Aesthetics of Distress 2016 explores the relationship we have with the waste products our bodies produce and thus attempting to evoke a sensation of disgust.
Having had a predominantly painting and drawing background, in the last few years I have expanded my practice to include installation, sculpture, text-based work, print and working with found objects. Still, the final outcome maintains priority over the process, as I predominantly concentrate on the message I want to communicate. Drawing on various references, which often exceed the field of fine art, to then determine my method. The influence of certain artists is evident across the entirety of my practice. For example, through interrogating the works of contemporary portraitists such as Jenny Morgan and Sally Bourke, I search for new ways to depict the human form and convey emotion. While the working methods of artists such as Hermann Nitsch and Leah Capaldi I attempt to discern how to elicit a visceral reaction.
The theme of memory is highly investigated in my practice. I am interested in how our brains record information and to what degree can that information be trusted, as well as the emotional value the memories we make attain with time. In the series The memory of You, Stranger 2016-17 I paint from memory portraits of strangers I see on the public transport. Such recreation of a person will never be perfect, as our mind remembers only the key features. Therefore, this series highlights the unreliability of our memory. This unreliability is the reason for a very primal instinct all humans share – a desire to record information. This becomes the focal point of several of my series created in 2018-19, all considering archive as a means of storing memories in a more organised and dependable fashion.
All of my work, in one way or another, is very personal to me. For example, one of my recent projects which examine infamous true crime cases from sociological, psychological and biological perspectives, is an expression of my long-term fascination with the darker side of humanity and my teenage aspiration of being a homicide detective. Executed in a very realistic and dense style - in watercolour, with the addition of text - those small-scale works strive to awaken the sensation of morbid curiosity in the viewer.
