Introduction

Welcome to BrokenChameleon.com. After living the last 7 years abroad, my accent took on a life of its own. In a single sentence it would hop the Atlantic Ocean at least twice. Some words would sound American, some Scottish and occasionally very formal English. I simply couldn't commit to sounding one way or another... I often felt like a broken chameleon. The term also seems to accurately describe the way I approach making art, which you can read more about below.

Anyway, so here we are. This is the new
hub for both my fine art practice and the
Broken Chameleon line of clothing that I'm launching this Spring/Summer. Thanks for dropping by and enjoy.


Artist Statement

I generally work within the confines of a series and not on standalone pieces. Each series is treated on a case by case basis. Meaning, any objectives that I’m consciously incorporating into a single artwork tend to stay within the guidelines of the particular series. Ideally, both the medium and the subject matter will serve the idea at hand and operate independently from any style or pattern that may permeate my work as a whole. With every new series, I am in effect only relying on and aiming to create an artist statement that applies then and there.

Having said that, this approach does under scrutiny reveal strands that run across various series. Using satire, setting up scenes of questionable narrative, creating word play and introducing a visual form of onomatopoeia have all been used extensively in developing initial ideas. At the same time, incorporating varying scales, mediums, symbols, multiples, playful imagery and a direct graphic finish has been important in the overall look.

The following are samples of the various statements and tangents that my work has addressed in recent years.


Cloud Conversations (2006-2007)

Although not as overtly political as much of my work in recent years, satire still acted as a propellant in the development of this series.

Until recently, talking about the weather seemed to be often a subject matter that people resorted to when they didn't seek any other common ground of discussion. It was a conversation starter without any depth.

"Cloud Conversations" began with the idea of creating landscapes where it was physically impossible for viewers to accurately describe the weather and thus force them into a position of discussing things further/having a meaningful conversation. I aimed to do this by removing the recognizable cloud formations and replacing them with specialist symbols (meteorological, mathematical, Native American, made-up, etc). Ironically, in the past few years climate change and global warming have altered the definition of “talking about the weather”.


Speech Bubble (2005)

The simple idea behind this was to alter the shape of a speech bubble so that the shape itself indicates the nature of the conversation. There is no need to fill the bubble with text or even illustrate who is having the conversation.


Commentary (2004)

The idea circulating behind this body of work was that I’d be less cryptic about my subject matter and instead just directly deal with the chips on my shoulder. Each of the pieces in this exhibition does what it says on the label and boldly comments on topical issues, such as the disappearance of the native red squirrel in the Scottish landscape, America’s decision to attack Iraq and the challenge of combining the ideas of evolution and creation.


Missing Verb (2000-2001)

Much of this work developed initially around the idea of treating a painting like a sentence that was being fragmented. By separating the subject matter of the artwork from the direct object with the use of borders and negative space, one (the viewer) was left with a missing verb. In other words, what was actually happening in the depicted scenes remained a mystery. This compartmentalization of areas within the paintings took on the appearance of film stills and the effect simply added to the feeling that there was an unknown narrative running freely.