I have just completed a new acrylic painting which I’ve called ‘Vacation’. It features a derelict ceramics factory in Middleport as seen from across the canal. The abandoned caravan caught my attention and made it appear as if someone had chosen to have a holiday amongst an overgrown and neglected part of Stoke-on-Trent. There was something absurd but also sad about the scene. It is the same building that appears in my ‘Inside Out’ and ‘Outside In’ paintings. This piece will feature in my next solo show next year. You can view it in the ‘Abandoned Spaces’ section of my website.
Three Counties Open Exhibition 2021
I’m pleased to announce that my painting ‘Inside Out’ has been selected for the Three Counties Open Exhibition 2021. This normally takes place at Burslem School of Art but this year will take the form of an online exhibition, available to view throughout the summer.
My selected work is based on an abandoned ceramics factory in Middleport, which I discovered during a day of urban exploring with printmaker Jemma Gunning last year.
I’m currently working on a new painting featuring another derelict factory, this one based on the GEC factory in Stafford which was recently demolished. Both pieces form part of a collection of work exploring the decline of industry.
Inside Out
I have just completed a new acrylic painting based on the derelict Price and Kensington Factory in Middleport. This building was discovered during a day of urban exploration with artist Jemma Gunning. We were intrigued by the structure which lay abandoned and was slowly becoming taken over by nature. I took several reference photographs but it was the view of the battered old sofa that caught my eye. There was something quite peculiar about seeing an indoor item of furniture placed in front of the factory and I wondered how it arrived here. The crumbling walls and exposed interior offered so much to explore with paint and I enjoyed building up the textures.