With my friend Jane from school.
In 2005 I received offers from IKEA and Laura Ashley to licence my art works, whilst I appreciate the opportunities of having works sold through global brands I did not feel my work was suitable for a commercial mass market. In 2005 I also received an offer of representation from Lumas Gallery in Berlin, I flew to Berlin to meet the founders, who were interesting fun people and excellent conversationalists. Lumas is a prominent gallery, I admire what they were trying to achieve, working with them was a wonderful opportunity however at the time I felt it was not right for my work. In 2007/2008 I received an offer from The Hilton Hotel Group in America to supply them with prints for their hotel rooms, I turned this down. The commercial realities of being an artist and managing your work means artists cannot always be particular about the galleries they work with and who they sell their work to. However, I humbly believe it's better to hold out for the right opportunity, develop your vision and have something meaningful to say rather than compromise on the quality and integrity of your work, though sometimes such idealism is challenging. This is why more should be done to support and encourage our artists and artist communities to grow and flourish, there should be more grants, artist programs and special tax concessions ;) for artists and arts initiatives artists enrich our communities creating a vibrant, tolerant, kinder, socially and culturally responsible society. My next artwork is on toolkits. It's been inspired by a toolkit that mysteriously disappeared from my house in North London in 2003. I've still not been able to solve the mystery as to how or why the toolkit disappeared. A friend brought his toolkit to help with some DIY around the house, we changed the locks on the front door and on the inside door to my downstairs flat. My mother called soon after inviting us both for a curry. The toolkit was left in the hallway by the front door (the door to which the lock had just been changed) and when we returned from my mother's house the toolkit had vanished and there was no sign of a break in. All these years later and I'm still baffled (as baffled as to why basic planning permission that should have be granted in eight weeks took more than two years and why someone would want to steal a ring made of wood.) The disappearance of the toolkit is poignant as it belonged to my friend's late grandfather, it's understandable that such a loss must have been painful for him, things that have sentimental value are irreplaceable. I lost my grandfather a few months after the death of my father, I was eleven years old, whilst I did not inherit a toolkit, to be fair I did not actually inherit anything. I understand that my friend's grandfather's tools symbolized love, affection and memories that are irreplaceable. I felt terrible, it was such a senseless, cruel, heartless crime because the toolkit itself did not have much value however emotionally it meant a tremendous amount to my friend and it was a connection with his grandfather. Perhaps my toolkit art work might help solve the mystery.