Birth of an Icon, 2024

Oil on Board with gold leaf on walnut moulded frame

Installation with relics at Fitzrovia Chapel, London

After hanging my painting in Fitzrovia Chapel it felt like something was missing, and so I decided to add a little personal history as a gift to pass onto my son; a few photographs of when I was a young art student with everything still ahead of me; badges, records and concert tickets of stuff I listened to and things I’d seen that forged my identity; a lock of my father’s hair taken from his deathbed still wrapped in the hospital paper towel which I carry with me from time to time as a form of protection along with his electricians screwdriver I snatched from his tool kit; a packet of Walkers crisps - my hometowns most famous export satisfying those late night pregnancy cravings - alongside my Leicester City enamel badges worn proudly on my lapel during every game; my collection of dead spiders folded ‘concertina style’ collected from all four corners of the studio scattered amongst the intricately crafted arachnids formed from broken cocktail sticks created whiling away the hours propping up endless bars; the mixing palette on the back of a tub of Dairylea cheese triangles propped up by my favourite brushes used to paint this very masterpiece; … oh and the dried and severed fragment of umbilical cord that connected us together during the first 9 months of his creation…

Birth of an Icon, 2024

Oil on Board

Unframed 61 x 45.5 cm

Framed 82.5 x 67 x 7 cm (gold leaf on walnut moulding)

Birth of an Icon, 2024

Ephemera