Written:
I started art school when I was 17. Back then, we were told the same thing over and over: find your style, your identity, your niche. That one look you’ll be known for.
But I never did. I didn’t want to.
For decades, I ignored that advice and just created whatever I felt like—painting, illustration, sculpture, digital work, you name it. I didn’t want to be boxed into one thing. And now, at 50, after a lifetime of experimenting, resisting, and drifting through countless styles, it’s only just come together.
The Work That Finally Feels Like Mine
My urban, industrial scenes—the bridges, railways, and city grit—are stark, black-and-white, and moody. But hidden within them are pockets of colour: rave scenes, full of people, movement, and energy, showing life pulsing through the greyness.
It’s never been about sex. It’s never been about beauty. It’s about atmosphere, chaos, and the way life insists on breaking through the concrete. After years of resisting, I finally get it: to be recognised, you have to repeat things. You have to keep creating until people see a piece and know instinctively that it’s yours. For the first time, I’m okay with that.
The Things I’ve Had to Push Aside
My earlier work—and a lot of my social media—carried heavy themes: politics, injustice, and the things I find disturbing in the world. But I’ve learned the hard way: posting about those things kills your reach. People scroll past. Maybe they care, maybe they don’t, but not when it comes to art.
It’s sad. For me, art was never meant to be just a “pretty picture.” But if you want to make a living, you end up boxing yourself in. You end up giving people what they want, rather than the things that make them uncomfortable.
Moving Forward
I’m not abandoning my avant-garde side completely; it will always be there. But at 50, after starting this journey at 17, I’ve finally found the style I want to repeat, refine, and build on: urban industrial grit with pockets of colour showing life beating at its centre.
It took me a lifetime to get here. Maybe that’s just how long it takes sometimes.
