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Artists statement
I paint expressively from imagination rooted in a grounding of drawing dancers in motion. In painting the World Naked Bike Ride I utilise what I have learned from Renaissance painters to give a fleshy dynamic to this current and exotic topic. It is an annual event in London and in
other cities around the world. Some participants dress in carnival style, giving decorative and mythical characters a surreal meeting with London landmarks. I keep finding new ways to express this, from naturalistic representation in a reportage manner, to playing with perspective and alluding to classical and modern references in a way that requires the observer to suspend disbelief.
Naked cycling demonstrates the vulnerability of the rider in an unembarrassed, joyful freedom and calls us to question oil dependency, making my paintings relevant to modern life. My speciality is drawing nudes in movement. Striptease artistes and ballet dancers have given me the opportunity to capture the body in movement by sketching live performances. These have ranged from drawing at the Mr Woldly Wise ballet premiere (sitting next to the Queen at the Royal Opera House) to East End pubs. The naked bike rides are fantastic events featuring hundreds of moving naked bodies which are the inspiration for my current work.
For this series I painted in oil on canvas, mainly stretched and primed myself. The quality of the ground and subsequent layers of paint, which require extended drying time, are important to me. A painting may take months to finish, so I work on many canvasses simultaneously. I enjoy the whole making process which takes patience.