the background

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all work:

oil, cold wax, charcoal and graphite on paper

Various dimensions

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In 2017 after two decades of exploring limitation, repetition and restriction, I decided to acknowledge the origin of my absorption, one of the deeply personal reasons: awe for the manual labour of the coal miners in my family. Therefore, a series of paintings and frottage, ‘Surface Work’, which I began in 2017 and first installed in a derelict building yard in Montejaque, Spain, is a homage to the manual labour of these men, who repeated their punishing, laborious, monotonous and severely restricted movements, digging in the confined space and darkness of the deepest coal mine in Scotland, The Glencraig Colliery, at 610 metres below ground.

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To be clear, the surface work palette does not represent coal dust, nor does the oil I use represent their sweat. There is no place for sentiment, although this is difficult as they are always with me.

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