A collaboration is brewing 8000 miles away.  I am designing some artwork for ‘The Case of the Shanghaied Songbird' - a new Film Noir set in 1950’s Melbourne created by Australian writer/director, Scott Lewis and starring Jack Cambell.  More on this project and Blue Starling Films coming soon.


                                                                                  Actor, Jack Campbell


Fusing Britpop, Garage and 60’s psych, Chicago’s 'SecretColours,' are an eclectic blend of Stone Roses, Blur, T-Rex and the Beatles. Veterans of Austin’s SXSW and Levitation, they are quickly developing a reputation as one of those bands that’s even better live.  I’m looking forward to posting my interview with them next month. 

                                                                                   Happy Summer!

2014 was a memorable year and I am so happy I got to share with you on this blog, not only my own endeavours but also the extraordinary art, photography, music and films of my friends and other inspirational creatives I stumbled across.

In the spirit of anticipating a new year of serendipitous finds to share, this evening I decided to create a list of resolutions or rather 10 things I promise you will or won’t see on my blog, website, gallery exhibits or studio space in 2015:

1. Okay, secret’s out… I have an aversion to crowdsourcing or ‘go fund me’ anything… Now this doesn’t mean I won’t continue to support all the great proposals that reach my inbox, because some of these projects are so incredibly grand they require financial assistance to come to fruition - it just means that you won’t be seeing “Send Gina to Ibiza” (or the Free People Boutique would be quite nice) because any idea I can’t get my hands dirty creating by myself doesn’t deserve my or your attention.

2. Philosophical quotes that aren’t personally meaningful. I have actually read and given thought to the various things I quote on this blog. They have personal meaning; but you aren’t going to see them superimposed across my paintings.

3. I promise not to create anything with wings that isn’t avian.

4. Can you ever really have too much black? I’m a noir artist, so you are probably going to see more this year (I prefer Mars black to Ivory). The shadow men are my Id, although I acknowledge there was a slight lack of shadow men in last year’s work and an abundance of closed-eyed women. Was it that torn retina? Can someone please call Jung; I think I’m having an existential crisis.

5. I never ask my collectors to send me photos of my paintings in their homes. I find it actually kind of creepy. Worse are photoshopped photos of paintings in homes… or maybe worse still, photoshopped photos of paintings in photoshopped frames in homes…or photoshopped photos of paintings in photoshopped frames in photoshopped homes - Dieu comment gauche!... but hey - to each his own.

6. I promise to continue to push the boundaries creatively this year, starting with a very special album cover design I’m having mad fun creating. There is also the beginning of a 40 x 50 surreal piece I’ve set the deadline of June to complete simply for its size and complexity. Work in progress shots to follow…

7. I promise never to superimpose “SOLD” across any of my work.

8. Art auctions, liquidations, 70% off sales, buy one get one free, or any other tawdry capitalistic means to plunder an artist of any sliver of self-respect attached to their already fragile egos will not be associated with my name.

9. If it catches my eye, makes me cry, wraps around my heart, makes me laugh or makes me angry you will probably hear about it here.

10. I promise to stop listening to my Chinese astrologer. “Because it is the year of the Sheep, there will be collision among Sheep people. Sheep people will be among the unluckiest in 2015 and will most likely be lonely. Paul Ng advised that Sheep people stay safe and avoid gambling, greed and unhealthy health practices.”

So there you have it.

As a neo-noir artist who aims to steer clear of hackneyed cliches in my paintings, I am always on the lookout for the more obscure sources of “noir” inspiration and sometimes find just what I’m looking for in the most unlikely of places.
“ROUTE 66 THE ROAD AND THE ROMANCE” runs now through January 2015. With a huge collection of memorabilia the exhibit includes a typewritten scroll of Kerouac’s “On The Road,” an original Jackson Pollock landscape, the oldest existing Route 66 shield, and one of Steinbeck’s handwritten pages from “The Grapes of Wrath,” amongst hundreds of other artifacts chronicling the history of this iconic 2400 mile highway that crosses 8 states and connects the part of Los Angeles we now call Santa Monica Boulevard to Chicago.

David Lynch: The Factory Photographs
John Lyon Gallery (5th floor)
The Photographer's Gallery
16 - 18 Ramiles Street
London W1F 7LW