Describe your style in one sentence:
Kitchen sink surrealism.
Tell us a little bit about the pieces and the inspiration behind them:
It’s hard to pin point inspiration but for a long while I’ve been quietly obsessed with Japanese pop culture, especially the Harajuku phenomenon. I love the way that every piece of popular culture from the recent past is smashed together into a garish soup and regurgitated into real life with absolutely no boundaries.
How did you come up with the name Byroglyphics?
I can’t take any credit for that, my mate Hambo holds that dubious accolade. It was exclaimed during an all night session of gibberish in the halcyon days of my world championship alcoholism.
What’s the first picture you can remember drawing as a child?
I drew many many pictures of Star Trek characters in the vain hope that they’d be featured on ‘The Gallery’ on Take Hart [a British kids art TV show from the 1970’s], to no avail.
How did your style evolve?
I’ve tried a lot of stylistic variations over the years and consistently got nowhere with them, Byroglyphics is most like the stuff I was doing at art college but it never really took hold until about 2004 when I began transporting drawings into the computer and messing with them.
What’s your process in creating a piece of art?
I start with a drawing, usually from a photograph and scan it, then set about moulding a body or background and other ephemeral details with a vast collection of photoshop brushes, most of the time is taken in preparation, the actual image never takes more than a few hours.
What’s the most unusual thing that’s ever inspired a piece of your art?
I once saw and was inspired by a cow driving a tractor being chased buy a desperate farmer. (I’m guessing the cow wasn’t insured.)
Where does your obsession with horses and cows come from?
Horses and cows are all around where I live and they go about their business without being affected too much by all the nonsense that occurs in the world, they’re generally quite serene and elegant, the of antithesis of human behaviour.
If your art was music, what would it sound like?
Slayer jamming with Eric Satie.
Who are three artists whose work your really admire at the moment?
Ian Francis, Conor Harrington and Duncan Jago leap out immediately although the list is endless.
Could you share three things in your work space that inspire you?
1) A carved wooden Balinese dancer that has an impossible amount of detail which someone somewhere probably got paid a pittance for.
2) A solid state Sansui Amp that was made in about 1970 and still performs as well as the day it was made, inspiring because of that very fact.
3) Stuff I’ve painted in the more destructive portions of my recent past, work that’s better than anything I produce now and amazes me that I ever managed it.
What are your vices/guilty pleasures?
Smoking far too much, energy drinks and curry. If curry was removed from that list, life as we know it would cease to exist.
Are there any upcoming shows or projects you’d like to share?
I’m doing ongoing work with Red Propeller Gallery and I’ve also got a solo show next year in London with Signal Gallery.
10/21/08
Byroglyphics
