The generation of something from (almost) nothing.
Rows of dots interacting to generate circles. Digital This version: June 2025
This image is composed of multiple identical rows of dots with the rows arranged at regular angles to each other and with regular spacing. An animation showing the positioning of the rows of dots can be seen here.
The circles in the image are formed as the result of the interaction between the separate rows of dots. There are no circles in the underlying components of the image. An idea of the underlying rows of dots in the image can be found by looking at the corners of the image where the number of rows is fewer.
I’ve produced several images of this type over the years since about 2017.
The work is linked to my interest in the scientific principles concerning the generation of complexity in the universe from simpler forms. Ultimately this involves trying to comprehend the generation of the most basic entities in the universe from something that’s just one step removed from nothing. It’s about the generation of something from nothing.
Circles generated from overlapping straight lines of dots
Digital animation June 2025
This is an animation of a work that I created in 2017.
It starts with a of a row of dots which are repeated and rotated to form a star shape. This shape is then repeated and repositioned in specific locations relative to the original star shape. The resulting patterns are then repeated and repositioned in the same way.
The pattern generated by the positions of all of the repeated dots that were in the original straight line contains multiple overlapping and interacting circles.
Steel sculpture: hammerhead with spheres 10x5x2cm May 2025
A sculpture composed of the head of a cross pein hammer with two steel spheres attached to its sides.
Hammerheads standing on end have an interesting anthropomorphic quality to them. This anthropomorphism is exploited in this work to create an ambiguous form.
The work possibly suggests a human figure with spheres in the place of arms. Or it could suggest the head of a creature such as an insect with the spheres as huge eyes.
The steel spheres are attached to the hammerhead by magnets.
Relative rotating grids creating complex forms from simple forms.
Digital animation June 2025
A work from my Complexity series studying the generation of complex forms from simple forms.
Identical simple grids of dots are superimposed and rotated relative to each other. The grid for this piece is shown below.
Simple algorithms dictate how the superimposed grids interact with each other. For instance where the same colours on each grid are superimposed on each other they cancel out to generate white and where complementary colours are superimposed they generate black.
The genesis of this series was my attempt to find a visual metaphor for the creation of the complexity of the universe from an almost absurdly simple starting point.
The basic grid that generates the pattern in this work
Eclipse of the sun projected onto a watercolour painting
Photograph of watercolour painting (16 x 22cm) and projected image. 29th March 2025
The image above is a detail of the projection of a partial solar eclipse onto a watercolour painting. The watercolour painting is a simple painting featuring only a rudimentary landscape and sky which was created as a base for a collage. It was only while watching the eclipse from my garden that in occurred to me that the painting would work well as a backdrop for projecting the eclipse.
Using a telescope to project the sun onto a white background such as a sheet of paper is a standard method of observing the sun. It’s something I’ve been doing for the past 55 years or so.
The painting is on white watercolour paper which looks dark in these photos because the projection technique involves using a baffle to shade the paper (otherwise it would be too bright in the sunlight).
The projection could be categorised as a form of light art.
The whole painting with the solar eclipse projected onto it.The painting in the garden with the solar eclipse projected onto it.
Visualisation of an art gallery wall mural proposal
Digital montage. March 2025
A visualisation of a proposal for a mural painted directly onto an art gallery wall.
The mural depicts a procession of people with extremely long legs.
A possible interpretation of the work is that the extreme height that the people have attained due to having such long legs comes at a price.
Physical height is usually thought of as being desirable in people as it is interpreted as a sign of power and strength.
However it has its drawbacks. Tall people tend not to live as long as shorter people, and in the case of the long-legged people in my image how on earth do they tie their shoe laces? Also, notice that they seem to need sticks to help them to keep their balance.
The physical height of the people can be taken to be a metaphor for power of more abstract forms, while the sticks that the people are using in order to keep themselves upright may be seen as metaphors for the methods which people in positions of power have to use in order to prop themselves up.
Sketch of a bizarre headless figure with flying head
Digital sketch on iPad. February 2025
A digital sketch from the imagination, drawn on an iPad.
This sketch was drawn spontaneously, with no preconceived idea of what I was going to draw.
It’s quite bizarre and fantastical, maybe a bit unsettling and grotesque.
The process involved drawing the slightly random black form of the body first and then adding additional elements that were suggested by the shape of the body. The giant hands were the first additions. These suggested that the figure should remain headless.
The hands seemed to be grasping for something, which suggested a floating object just out of reach of the hands. This in turn suggested that a floating head could be the object, particularly because the figure had no head.
This in turn gave rise to the idea that the head could actually be flying, and that it could be doing so with the use of extra-large ears (possibly reflecting the extra-large hands of the headless figure).
Bridge. A sculpture as a metaphor for cooperation.
Document clips, wood 18x31x10cm Jan 2025
A sculpture composed of document clips that grip each other to form an arch or bridge. The bridge spans the gap between two pieces of wood on which the document clips stands.
Part of the concept behind the assemblage is that the arch of clips literally bridges the gap between the two separate parts of the base. The linked clips represent the concept of achievements that can only be made by cooperation with others (In this case with other document clips). It’s a metaphor for communication and cooperation.
The fact that the clips are in a variety of different colours is significant, as it represents diverse types of people cooperating. The colours aren’t meant to signify any particular quality of diversity such as race or sexuality, just diversity in general.
It’s quite a literal sculpture, conveying a straightforward concept. It’s also a simple and elegant form. Simple in form and simple in concept – that makes a change.
Digital drawing (Procreate on iPad). 8th January 2025
A sketch from the imagination depicting a ship with legs.
The ship looks as though it may be based on a historical wooden sailing ship. The masts resemble crosses for some reason, each having only one horizontal member (or yard). This is probably just for simplification and clarity (and laziness) rather than it being some sort of profound allusion to Christianity. Feel free to find a profound allusion though. The legs are very long and spindly, which is probably linked to the long-legged surreal birds that I’ve drawn on and off over the years, starting about fifty years ago in the 1970s.
The sketch was drawn on an iPad in Procreate. I see from the metadata that it’s got 318 strokes and it took 12 minutes.
This work is currently on display in the Royal West of England Academy, Bristol exhibition Paper Works (until 27 April 2025)
A sculpture composed of two hemispheres on a flat surface, with one of the hemispheres protruding from one surface and the other protruding from the other surface. Both hemispheres are hollow, so that relative to each surface of the flat card one hemisphere protrudes and the other creates a hollow. The sculpture is coated with very matt black acrylic paint (Stuart Semple Black 4).
The matt black colour of the sculpture makes the form deliberately difficult to read. This is especially the case with the hollows (possibly because the brain is not expecting there to be hollows in the surface).
On one level the work can be viewed as a simple intriguing puzzle that engages the viewer’s perception and cognition in interpreting the positive and negative forms that are generated by the hemispheres.
The work also has a metaphorical interpretation that relates to my interest in science.
In this interpretation the flat black surface of the sculpture can be thought of as representing the ‘base state’ of physical reality. Think of this state as being flat and featureless – a state in which nothing physical can meaningfully be said to actually exist – maybe the ‘resting’ state of the universe. Perhaps think of it as being comparable to a graph in which the line of the graph flatlines along the zero value of the x axis, indicating that there’s nothing to measure.
The two hemispheres in the sculpture disrupt the flat surface, creating the existence of form. Returning to the graph analogy, this is similar to the presence of two blips on the flatlining graph, with one blip going up and the other going down.
Because the hemispheres are hollow the pair create a bulge and a depression on each side of the flat surface, with the one that forms a bulge on one side of the sculpture forming a depression on the other side.
On either of the two sides of the flat surface, in terms of total volume, the bulge of one of the hemispheres and the depression of the other cancel each other out, with the negative volume of the depressed hemisphere cancelling the positive volume of the protruding one.
This can be thought of as an analogy for the physical nature of the universe at its most fundamental level. The flat featureless surface of the sculpture represents the flat featureless ‘surface’ of the fundamental universe when it is devoid of matter and when nothing exists other than the ‘surface’. The pair of hemispheres conceptually represents a single fundamental ‘disturbance’ in the flat fearless surface, a single simplest element of existence perhaps analogous to the most fundamental of fundamental particles.
Importantly, because this fundamental disturbance is represented by two identical forms (the hemispheres) of which one has positive volume and one has negative volume which cancel out, the total volume of the disturbance is zero. This is analogous to the physical universe arising out of a state of nothingness (the flat surface) yet adding nothing to the volume, thus adding nothing to nothing.
So, although the universe exists it is still composed of nothing.
This work reflects my interest in both art and science (I started out on a scientific career before moving over to an artistic one).
I believe that art and science are often much more closely linked than is often assumed. There is for instance a huge amount of aesthetics in the appreciation of mathematics, and the study of the way that our senses make sense of the world is nothing if not a science.
The work consists of a sheet of plastic mesh from the packaging for a pack of oranges.
I particularly like this piece because of the mundanity of its material.
I’ve been experimenting with the generation of moiré patterns and related optical effects for many years, often involving the interaction of digitally generated simple grids such as in the example below from 2008 or as seen here .
I’ve previously used the same sort of plastic mesh to create moiré patterns in an exhibit in my solo exhibition at Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens in 2022.
The term moiré pattern or moiré fringe comes from a type of French fabric called moire, in which two layers of fabric are pressed together to form a single sheet in which the slight misallignment of the fabric’s mesh generates patterns.
An earlier (2008) example of patterns generated by overlapping grids (this time produced digitally).
An earlier (2008) example of patterns generated by overlapping grids (this time produced digitally).
An earlier (2008) example of patterns generated by overlapping grids (this time produced digitally).
A digital visualisation of a proposed mural on an art gallery wall.
The mural depicts two men standing on stilts. One of the men has much taller stilts than the other man. The man with the shorter stilts is sawing through one of the tall stilts.
The image is partly a metaphor for power and attacks on that power. It’s also just a funny idea.
The image can be interpreted as a metaphor for political power and opposition to that power. The person on the tall stilts is invested with the power while the person with the short stilts is wanting to topple the person in the position of power (as an act of rebellion against political oppression, military repression, economic exploitation or one of any number of engines of social or political inequality).
The power that is personified in the image needn’t necessarily be the power of large scale institutions and entities, but could also be the power gained at an interpersonal level by an individual who has status enhancing qualities such as an appealing personality or striking good looks, making the attacks on that individual the consequence of personal envy or resentment.
The man on the tall stilts represents a person in a position of high status or power. The structure of that power (the tall stilts) however makes him isolated from people with less power (the shorter stilts). This flaw makes him vulnerable to attacks from below, especially if the person below has a metaphorical saw.
I’ve used a cartoon-like quality for the image is because the cartoon medium is the perfect way to convey the concept in the image. I think that cartoons are an excellent medium for political or social comment art as they can convey concepts directly and unambiguously. I’ve drawn cartoons for publication in newspapers, magazines and books since the 1970s. You can see my cartoons here.
The large photograph on the wall in the visualisation is from a series of studies of skulls.
Shown in the ING Discerning Eye exhibition in the Mall Galleries, London, November 2024.
This sculpture, composed of a hammer and nails, symbolises the act of the oppressed overthrowing their oppressor. The nails represent the oppressed and the hammer represents their oppressor.
The metaphor raises a few questions . How did the nails become driven into the hammer? By another hammer? If so, is that other hammer a potential oppressor? Is the (unseen) second hammer just an oppressor in its own right, simply using the nails for its own ends?
Jar opener, spinning top, document clip, hand. 27x9x5cm (excluding hand). Feb 2024
An assemblage of household items (a jar opener, a spinning top and a document clip). In the photograph the assemblage is paired with a human hand to create an ambiguous form. There are suggestions of a flowering plant, a human form or an apparatus with a wheel.
A spontaneously conceived piece of artwork created while I was putting away the washing up in the kitchen. The shadows are created by the ceiling lights.
This is a good example of finding inspiration anywhere and in mundane objects and mundane places, and of the importance of being open to inspiration striking at any time.
In some ways it’s a piece of readymade art, being basically a fork plucked from my dish rack, however the importance of the shadows also makes it into shadow art in which the cast shadows are as important as the object casting the shadows.
Conté Pierre Noire pencil, novelty spectacles, paper 42x30cm 2021-2024
The pencil drawing was executed in December 2021 using a Conté Pierre Noire pencil. The novelty glasses and nose were added in September 2024 to create a montage or assemblage.
It was created in the typical way that works of this type are often created: the drawing was lying on a work surface and the glasses were lying nearby. I’d already placed the glasses on a few other pictures to suitable comic and/or bizarre effect, so I thought I’d try them on this drawing for size. They fitted (at least as far as I’m concerned).
The nose/glasses combination are sometimes called disguise glasses or Groucho glasses (after Groucho Marx, whom I think used to wear them).
The process of coming up with new ideas as a result of inspiration generated by things around you applies to everything in life, not just art. By ‘things’ I don’t just mean objects (such as novelty glasses) but ideas. When a person comes up with a new idea it’s very often a fusion of ideas that are already around and which the person picks up and combines in a new and interesting way. As a result,in any given culture, new concepts tend to be predetermined by the concepts that the culture already holds.
Workman’s tools and handyman’s tools are a frequent feature of my work, with my first sketches of them dating from my early twenties, about fifty years ago.
I’ve always liked the anthropomorphic and zoomorphic qualities of hand tools. Pliers, such as the ones here, have legs that are suggestive of human legs and jaws that are suggestive of crocodile jaws or perhaps pterodactyl jaws. The business end of tin snips and garden pruners resemble the beaks of birds, and hammers have heads.
Another appeal about hand tools is their robust usefulness. They tend to look strong and they make hard physical work that much easier.
They are also nostalgic. In my youth my father had a garden shed that contained racks and racks of tools that were in constant use for repairing broken household items and for constructing basic items of furniture. Now such tools feel as though they may be on the brink of extinction as people no longer fix things and as what tools there still are tend to be power tools which lack the simple physicality of hand tools
A study in the perception and interpretation of images.
This photograph is an undoctored image, but it’s very hard to decipher what exactly’s going on in it. It looks like an aerial photo of rows of terraced houses, but there’s something not quite right about it.
Have a look near the very top left hand corner and you may realise what it is you’re looking at. You can see a line of cars there, but they are all upside down.
The photo is just a straight photo that’s being viewed upside down. The unexpected orientation of the image creates the effect of disoriention in the observer.
The photo shows the way in which the observer tries to construct a meaningful interpretation of an image that is giving confusing and ambiguous cues. The observer may easily be able to recognise that the image shows the walls of houses because the windows and doors are easily identifiable. And there are house roofs here too, but these components don’t seem to marry up properly to create a coherent whole.
It’s a study in visual perception and interpretation.
For the sake of efficiency the brain makes a lot of assumptions about what it’s perceiving at any moment, so it takes a few cues and interprets things from there.It only does any extra work if it notices that things don’t add up, as here. If it didn’t do that it would have to analyse everything from first principals and you’d need a brain as big as a planet to do anything.
