You started out surfing and travelling around the world, including competing on the world qualifying tour. When did you first realise that painting could become more than something you did alongside surfing?
When I seen the film Basquiat in NYC I didn’t know you could paint so freely which inspired me, in so many ways, I used photography poetry digital and painting together on canvas.
I was doing a local project painting the plant pots in Lennox head and was approached by Australian artist and documentary filmmaker Angus McDonald and was his assistant in his studio and also in London. This gave me the confidence and a better understanding of what was involved with working towards being a painter.
You began painting your fellow surfers’ boards while travelling on the surf tour, which eventually led to collaborations with brands. How important was that period to the artist you became?
I’m not sure how important it was, but I know I have always been pretty obsessive with things I’m passionate about. Neurodivergent fixation is real, so to paint boards was a way of life and the surf culture. I loved drawing on everyone’s boards as there was always lots of down time, and growing up in my father’s sign writing shed it’s always been apart of my up bringing music and drawing.
Your work is incredibly colourful and often surreal, with animals, characters and cosmic imagery appearing throughout it. Where do those characters and symbols come from when you’re creating?
My dad was very into fantasy, the night before I was born mum and dad went to watch the dark crystal at the movies. My dad always drew funny cartoons and Viking characters. His favourite and most influential was and still is his left hand waves, large mushrooms and a funny goblin surf dude and a snail with a pipe. He also wrote poetry with these scenes. Dad’s work is colourful also.
When you start a new piece, how much do you have planned before you pick up the brush, and how much happens instinctively as the painting develops?
when I was younger I would never have much of a planned idea and just drew, it would mainly be waves or weird characters also, but for my work now days it’s mainly 80% commissions and co created with the clients. So it’s done digitally to save time with this process.
My favourite is to start without using much idea of what will happen.
You’ve worked across painting, poetry, surfboards, fashion and brand collaborations. Does moving between different creative mediums change the way you approach your work?
most of my work is inspired by music or words.
So the approach has always been heavily influenced by music, be it to get to the zone out space and work intuitively or for inspiration,
Sounds a bit woo woo crazy but my grandmother was very psychic and we would always converse about nature, and ways of listening and living. So I find music on shuffle kind of speaks to me, and helps me channel into the projects or whatever.
Clairaudience.
I’ve experienced my life with it communicating to me in so many ways, be it true real or imagined – it’s like a stream of information which is my approach to my work.
You’ve collaborated with brands including ALÉMAIS, with your artwork being translated into fashion. What is it like seeing something that began as a painting take on a completely different life through clothing?
The Alemais collab blew my mind, it’s been the most beautiful creation. The girls are so talented and creative. I had no expectations and it was such a pinch me moment, I was very grateful.
Your work often incorporates symbolism and personal ideas. Do you ever look back at a finished piece and discover a meaning that you weren’t consciously aware of when you started it?
All the time, I have had people ask why I paint things, as they hadn’t told me about them and somehow they just end up on the artwork.
Like last minute manic changes to The original design. One example
Ex pro surfer Kate Skarratts painting had a few fun unconscious additions, her son Ash Wilcombes nick name is Moo and for some reason I changed his suit from blue to a cow pattern, and I threw a snail in it as the last thing I did to it. Kate called me and asked why I did those changes, as she had just done a parasite cleanse to a specific one that comes from snail poo and shared Ash’s nickname.
Photography: Mlak, Portia Sarris , Shannon Mackie and Danielle Rech Art Brewer
