I have always been inspired and motivated by the works of the Dutch Masters such as Rembrandt, Van Eyck, Pieter Claesz and numerous others. Other great influences have been the works of the Romantics and Neo-Classicists such as Turner and Constable, Ingres and David.
My subject matter derives from religious art of the Middle Ages, Dutch genre painting and South African historical references with my painting style influenced by the aforementioned artists.
One of the challenges I face in my work is to reintegrate the subjects and symbols of previous eras into an artwork with 21st century sensibilities.
I have considered the problem of recycling symbols, which in their original Christian contexts were very powerful. There is no reason why subjects should be avoided or ignored simply because we live in a post-Christian era. By post-Christian, I mean that the Church is no longer the political, spiritual and social power it once was, with Western society’s structures having transferred largely into secular control and the blossoming of an overtly materialistic culture. The Church is also not the driving force behind the commissioning of major artworks as in the past with special reference to the Renaissance. Due to the secular nature of society it would appear that the need for religious spiritual art has practically disappeared. The moral and spiritual meanings behind much religious art of past eras are often lost on contemporary audiences. 

What can these potent old symbols mean today and can they still be used effectively through a process of recycling?
In my work I am presenting objects such as fish, bread, cloth, various fruits and other symbols as I interpret them and juxtaposing them in different formats and combinations with a painting style I consider appropriate to the atmosphere and intensity I wish to express. In this way, with whatever memories of previous spiritual meaning that have remained in the viewer’s mind and with whatever new ideas are formed by the rehashing of these subjects, new meanings and interpretations may be made whether of a spiritual or a materialist nature. Or they may be viewed exactly as they are in a purely formal way.


My work is a form of deconstruction of the paintings of antiquity and the overlaying of my own experiences and sensibilities on the subject.
For me, skies are a particularly potent symbol, which is why I have a whole body of work devoted to them. They can range from a mood of serenity to one of apocalyptic terror and I use them to reinforce whatever atmosphere I need to convey in a painting or simply to paint them as visual experience.

I often use subjects from South African history such as the Anglo Boer War and the Zulu Wars and use these as backdrops in conjunction with other symbols.
I also invent new symbols with more contemporary meanings and arrange subjects in what may be considered inappropriate ways, always with the expectation of being able to extract new meanings and insights.
In my work, the bowl and pomegranate have become a metaphor for the human body. See Pomegranate Myths

Recently in 2010, I have been basing work on an inspiration after viewing Gericault's "The Raft of the Medusa". I was fascinaetd by the grid arrangement of the raft and this coincided with my viewing the chaotic, natural grid arrangements of cut and fallen branches. I am producing a body of paintings based on this.

Phone: 083 763 8216
Born 1954 in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu Natal
Presently living in Johannesburg, Gauteng
Republic of South Africa