Narrative

 

After working on Macbeth for the RSC in 1976 my continuous desire to sculpt heightened and I felt the need to record the production in a sculptural form. This was my epiphany moment, a returning to sculpture and fine art.  Since then I have continued to make sculptural objects and paintings; some have come from material based on plays, others texts and an interest in the human condition.There was no reason to do it other than I wanted the pleasure of reliving the moments in a less than conventional way. 

The pieces that are between performance and sculpture, I have no rational from where they came. Model boxes of theatre designs are used to give the company and players involved an understanding of the environment they will be working in, so I have tried to conjure up and explore these in a different dynamic. No literal model boxes, but elements created around three dimensional flat art that brings, I hope, fresh life, which exists with an energy of its own. These were close, influential relationships that are visually captured within a number of collection pieces - ‘The Greeks’, ‘Equus’ and ‘Les Miserables’, for example.

My artistic journey changed from studying fine art into performance based art. It may be said that theatre design itself could be seen as sculptural.  Going from Hornsey to Central School, I then took my sculptural experiences into the theatre. I realised that scenery did not have to be painted backcloths, instead, abstract objects that filled the space.

Fine artists of our time, Noguchi, Picasso, Gormley, Hockney, entered theatre and injected their talents into performance. Many theatre designers come from fine art.  So, I find myself returned, from where I first began.

My creations maybe in association, have their beginnings in theatre pieces or have come from my imagination. I wouldn't like to call it design. I wouldn't like to call it theatre. I would like to call it, imaginings. I wanted to produce a circle of life, a journey into a stimulating exciting space. This is not a place to stop, but a place from which ideas can grow, beyond the forth wall."