The artist: In my paintings I have been working from found cartoons since I finished the Goldsmiths MA in the eighties. Although the image is humorous, my work is all about materiality. Thick paint, particular brush strokes and a pattern or marks over the image emphasise the luscious materiality
of oil paint, and put the painting into a new arena where there can be no hierarchy of image over materials. Instead, I am confronted by having to juggle the image with a pattern that seemingly has a life of its own, but which remains inescapably bound to the original image. As suggested in
the introduction to the Rope-a-Dope exhibition, ‘alluding to the painting process often feels combative and risky’. In doing so, I aim to bring together disparate elements, working within very strict parameters, in order to challenge my own expectations and find something surprising.