PIGMENT
REAL PEOPLE. REAL FACES. UNREAL LIVES
Pigment = Oils. Acrylic. Charcoal. Ink. Graphite. Chalk. Pastel...
Different materials. One purpose—to translate human emotion.
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I don't paint faces... I paint the emotional
moment that shaped the face
Real People become storytelling artworks
Pigment art — is my translation of human performance & drama.
I take a single photographic frame of life and search for the meaning within the captured moment.
The face is my starting point; the human experience behind it is my subject
Human drama is everywhere. Look closely and you'll find joy, grief, envy, love, fear, vanity, and compassion woven into the ordinary moments of everyday life. These emotions form the thread that runs through my Unreal project. My role as an artist is to act as a translator, transforming invisible human experience into visible form through portraiture.
10 years photographing, filming & painting people in London,
everyone of them had a compelling story to tell
ThirstyJohn: homeless man , Holborn 2015, appeared busking the week a £300K antique violin was lost on a train.
Whiley Violet: 2017, lived her life in Soho – she witnessed the echoes of an old world in the shadows of the new.
Happy (meal) Ronald : appeared from 2020 last-final lockdown, mask hanging off one ear, feeling socially alive again.
Hundreds of Faces. Hundreds of Stories.
Portraits Released Weekly on Social Media.
Who knows? One of them could be you.
"I'm Out With
My Bitch"
Old Compton Steet, 2018
Soho rewards eccentricity; Gunter and his lady friend arrived determined to collect every penny of the dividend.
What the artist translates and what the viewer sees are often very different... I'll let your eyes decide.
"Nothing in life turns out quite the way we planned it in our heads."
Festival Garden's, St Paul's, 2017
Jenny and Nathan appeared so happy... then she spoke. His expression changes, as it begins to carry the weight of his own heart.
"Somebody's Son"
Neal Street, Seven Dials, 2016 Exhausted, broken and abandoned. Beneath the pain is a young man losing the battle he never expected to fight.
Exhausted and exploited
Shad Thames, 2018
Adeeb is a migrant chef - overworked, underpaid and exhausted, he stares to the heavens almost praying for relief.
Street drama is real drama.
Open your eyes
...the theatre is everywhere.
Camden Market, 2020
Deniz is arrested for theft and his public embarrassment is revealed, a private reckoning unfolding behind his eyes, thinking of the distance between who he was and who he'd become.
Planning Meeting
...WTF we doing today
As a small child...
this was never in my dreams
Millbank, 2017, Ali and Butch
Hatching plans luncheon, when their mood erupted with suspicion, territoriality, youthful mischief, who was this on their patch.
Stop and Stare
King Cross, 2022, Jonah
He found himself staring into the distance. It was a 'Stop and Stare' moment, we all have them... when we think our life is moving but really 'It's going nowhere'.
Pigment = Oils. Acrylic. Charcoal. Ink. Graphite. Chalk. Pastel. Different materials. One purpose—to translate human emotion.
"The Fruits of
my Life "
"He thrust his hands into an XL Bully's jaws to save his dog"
"Regrets
...I have a few"
Portobello Market, 2020, Nell.
The years have weathered her gently, leaving behind grace, resilience, and quiet strength. Nell carries her oranges like treasured memories gathered over a lifetime of love, loss, and giving.
Coventry Street, 2019, (Homeless) Rob
Protecting his dog from an XL Bully attack, he put his hands into the beast's mouth, severely injuring his fingers. Yet he took his dog to the vet before going to hospital himself.
Mincing Lane, 2019, John
A lifetime of choices distilled into a single expression of sorrow and reluctant acceptance. The slow shake of his head suggests a conversation only he can hear.
Street drama is real drama.
Open your eyes
...the theatre is everywhere.
"The algorithm remained busy; his loneliness remained unanswered."
"Desire, vanity, distraction, and the eternal
wandering eye."
Festival GDNS, St Paul's Gardens, 2017, Lenny
Digital loneliness - young people rely on digital validation. When text threads and social media feeds -dries up, it leaves fragile youth so emotionally isolated.
Soho Gardens, 2018, Romeo & Juliet
Juliet slaps Romeo playfully on the cheek... it was a warning... but temptation just kept walking past. Romeo's story is one
of desire, vanity, distraction, and the eternal wandering eye.
"Captivated by her reflection, she seemed to forget the world
beyond the screen."
St Paul's Cathedral, 2016, Gilder.
Surrounded by history, Gilder remains fascinated by the smallest thing in view: herself. Modern Narcissus no longer needs a pond, only a front-facing camera.
Festival Gardens, St Paul's, 2017, Jenny and Nathan
Held tightly together, they rocked gently against the certainty of parting. Some farewells are spoken. Others are felt through the refusal to release.
St Martin's Lane, Covent Garden, 2016, Alan - Part 2
His defence arrived in two stages: innocence first, amnesia immediately afterwards. Moments earlier, he was fearless. Now he couldn't recall a thing.
The performance evolved instantly from defiance to selective amnesia.
"The goodbye had already happened; neither heart was ready to accept it."
"Remarkable recovery from drunken confidence to strategic confusion"
St Martin's Lane, 2018, Alan - Part 1
Convinced the road belonged to him, he staged an unscheduled one-man occupation. The traffic stopped, but his drinking didn't. He rolled around the carriageway like a court jester... then suddenly awoke from his stupor at the flash of blue lights.