No Place Like Home (Self Portrait) is a concrete monolith featuring a waterfall of industrial metal, fixed in place yet full of reflections and movement, with a tiny ceramic house on the top looking out over the landscape. It combines weight and whimsy in equal measure, evoking both motion and calm...a contradiction that invites quiet contemplation.
I imagine myself inside the house, looking out at something so immense and powerful, sheltered for a moment from a world too vast to grasp and often moving too quickly to enjoy the ride. The same current can represent danger or possibility, often both at once, and the big dreams that slip between our fingers because we're scared, or don’t have support, to take a leap into the unknown towards a life imagined. That reflection is personal, though I do not think it is mine alone.
The house gives the brutalist sculpture its human scale – fragile, exposed, and hopeful – its view constantly changing as we, the viewers, peer into its tiny windows while also imagining ourselves looking out.
I’m a mixed-media artist creating large-scale sculptures and paintings, working mainly with industrial materials, and my work is held in private collections in the UK, Europe, Canada, and New Zealand.
I create sculptures in concrete and metal using industrial tools, building up and working back into the materials so the marks of making remain visible in the finished work. My paintings are created by adding paint and industrial construction materials to plywood, building up colour, texture, and depth. I then scrape and sometimes burn back to reveal interconnected layers. The final result emerges through exploration and time.
My studio, The Alchemy Forge, creates statement pieces for private collectors and organisations in the UK, Europe, and globally. I work with art buyers, galleries, and curators, as well as interior designers, architects, and art consultants seeking original art for private residences, members’ clubs, boutique hotels, fine-dining restaurants, and corporate spaces. Commissions can be developed around a particular setting – its proportions, materials, light, and the way people will encounter the work from different angles. The aim is to make a piece that fills a space with its presence, then reveals its textures, layers, and deeper story as someone moves closer.
Growing up in a quiet corner of a big city, my beach haven overlooking the sea shaped how I see the world. I found comfort in the sense of space, rolling waves, ever-changing scenery, and sunsets every evening. That sense of nostalgic wonder mixed with industrial scale runs through my work. Please explore my work at: www.thealchemyforge.art