1993 – 1995
This series was created during a formative time just after graduating from The College of Fine Arts UNSW in the mid-1990s. A group of us rented a cavernous warehouse in Sydney’s Inner West; I was the only full-time resident—painting, dreaming, and sleeping beneath the flight path. My 3x3m space held everything: bed, easel, books, paints, and a chessboard. It was enough.
The work is mostly figurative, drawn from life. I stretched and distorted anatomy—arms, legs, heads—as expressive tools.
My palette was restrained: one primary colour, black and white, and a complementary accent.
I also fell deeply in love—and that relationship, with all its passion and upheaval, became the heart of the work.
Life there was chaotic and strange. Communal areas were filled with woodworking machines, pinball machines, and worn couches. I recall surreal encounters—like a Jehovah’s Witness caretaker who described paradise as a beach jungle full of African animals.
I lived like a pure artist—swimming, painting, losing track of time. The line between reality and canvas blurred. That intensity came at a cost: I felt myself drifting from ordinary life, even struggling to hold a conversation at a gallery opening.
Many works from that time are lost—layered over again and again. What remains are fragments from a period that shaped me: obsessive, restless, and curious about how art can shift perception.
Black Possum Gallery 