Pareidolia

par·ei·do·lia | \ ˌper-ˌī-ˈdō-lē-ə, -ˈdōl-yə\: the tendency to perceive a specific, often meaningful image in a random or ambiguous visual pattern.

All images available for purchase from my Opensea NFT Gallery

Boogieman

(Taken from my Skurpy page) – I was living in Kingston, Jamaica circa 2018, a fascinating place with a vibrant culture, though exhausting at times. So I booked a flight to Panama City and spent three weeks touring rooftop bars in the comparative calm of Casco Viejo. It was there I laid down the first lines that were to become Boogieman.

After leaving Panama I eventually completed the picture but still didn’t know what it was, (each piece of Pareidolia is a journey I begin without knowing its final destination) until about six months later when, searching my folder for pens, the work fell out, fell face-up at my feet and finally revealed its secrets. I spent the following week experimenting with colours and brought the Boogieman to life. When I look at this picture it always takes me right back to El Gato Blanco – my favourite rooftop bar in Old Town.

The Evetree

The first piece of polished Pareidolia I ever made: A fairly self-evident riff on a theme of religious misogyny. The original Black and White version presents more clearly the leering male figures in the background – though personally I prefer the colour.

Rider

This is very much what I would call a Lockdown piece. There were moments, amid the isolation and practical challenges of restricted movement, when I really felt like I was riding a bucking Dragon; just doing my best to hang on until better times.

Wild Aspirations of the Flying Fish

When I made this picture I was contemplating the transition from writing to visual art as my creative focus. ‘…Flying Fish’ is all about audacious dreams, wild optimism and daring to believe in the seeming impossible. For me it has a fun and faintly comic tone, reflected in the intentionally bombastic title. The whole is comprised of a representative composite of birds, but there are a couple of novel images also embedded within. Can you see El Toro?

Rosula

The Supplicant

I like the bold simplicity of the four central images in this piece, and how they meld together so fluidly: The ear, the Bodhi tree, the kneeling figure beneath it, and the otherworldly craft flying above (reminiscent to my mind of a carving from the Temple of Abydos) together tell the story of The Supplicant’s journey and longed-for ascension.