Palermo, Italy

An artist captivated by the poetry of movement, exploring the human body in motion through dancers, divers, and circus performers suspended between balance, risk, and flight.

Biography

My work has always been driven by movement. Even in my early landscape studies I searched for motion—water, foliage, sky. Once I learned to draw the figure, the moving human body became central to what I do. In the 1980s I painted pedestrians in urban architecture and punk musicians performing in tight city spaces. Important shifts came from watching the cliff divers in Nice and discovering Charles Atlas’s films of Merce Cunningham’s dancers. From the 1990s onward I began working directly with dancers and contemporary circus artists, focusing on bodies in motion—falling, spinning, and moments of jeopardy.

The works shown here reflect two of my main themes.
The first is the moving figure, explored through multifigure compositions of divers and circus artists suspended in electric yellow or deep blue environments, or positioned over horizons between sea and sky or land and sky. These horizons may tilt to disturb equilibrium. The figures are organised in contrasting ways: from geometric unisons where each body seems free yet the group is bound into precise, almost mathematical structures, to chaotic arrangements of falling figures. Their silhouettes create a kinetic script, like hieroglyphs formed by shifting choreographies.

The second theme is the diver, which began with studies of the cliff divers at the end of the Promenade des Anglais in Nice and later continued in the studio with different models. These works present the nude figure on the cliff edge—pausing, hesitating, looking out to sea. The viewpoint is from above, so the horizon lies above the frame, encouraging the viewer to project themselves into the diver’s body in the moment before the leap.

Education

I was born in the UK in 1953. Although I painted throughout my teens—guided first by the Scottish artist Nell Todd and later while studying at Cambridge University, where I exhibited at King’s College and Kettle’s Yard—I initially followed a scientific path. After graduating, I moved to France, completed a PhD, and worked as a biochemist while studying drawing at the Paris municipal art school on the Place des Vosges. In 1981, I left science entirely to focus on art. I continued my training with Nicolas Wacker at the École des Beaux-Arts, studying the materials and structure of painting, and then spent two years working under the critical guidance of Zao Wou-Ki at the École nationale supérieure des Arts Décoratifs. After a year in Rome, I became a full-time artist in 1982, working in Paris until 2004, when I moved to Sicily. I now live and work in Palermo.

Exhibitions & Awards

SOLO EXHIBITIONS Polittici – Visioni Tattili, Centro d'Arte Raffaello, Palermo, Italy Le Grand Bleu, Centro d’Arte Raffaello, Palermo, Italy Chorus, Galerie Ferama, Paris, France Plongeurs, Danseurs et Acrobats, Galerie de la Maison, Angoulême, France L’Art et la Bannière, Hôpital Bretonneau, Paris, France Upside Down, Galerie Art et Littérature, Paris, France Solo Show – Air France Industries, Orly, France Storyboard, Spazioarte Pisanello, Verona, Italy Histoire de Corps, Galerie Jacob 1, Paris, France Kent Landscapes, Nevill Gallery, Canterbury, Kent, UK Artiste Invité, Ville de Vitry-Châtillon, France Le Corps en Danger II, Galerie Le Monde de l’Art, Paris, France Body Language, Espace Croix Baragnon, Toulouse, France Corps en Danger, Galerie Le Monde de l’Art, Paris, France Light as a Feather, Galerie Barrouyer, Paris, France Solo Exhibition, Galleria Bottega di Emilio, Via Margutta 86, Rome GROUP EXHIBITIONS Identità, Galleria Raffaello, Palermo, Italy Arte Padova 2022, Fiera di Padova, Italy Artistes de la Galérie, Galerie Sonia Monti, Paris, France Meditation Medication, Asia Museum of Modern Art, Taiwan Frammenti di Sicilia, Spazioarte le Sicile, Siracusa, Italy Group Show, Galerie Marion Zimmermann, Hamburg, Germany A Celebration of the Olympic Games, Italian Institute of Culture, San Francisco, USA Travelling Exhibition Across the USA on Flat Screens, DigitalAGE expressions «VOLUTES» Dance Performance, Théâtre de la Terre, Paris, France Hommage à la Danse, Street Banners, Prayssac, Lot, France Le vêtu et le nu (plus 2 other shows same venue), SNPPsy, Paris Quadruplex, Espace Beaurepaire, Paris, France Salon de Montrouge, Montrouge, France «Diagonale» and «Génie de La Bastille» Studio, Paris, France Paul-Louis Weiller Portrait Prize (Selected Artists 1993 and 1996), Institut de France, Académie des Beaux-Arts, Paris 2nd Premio Ibla Mediterraneo, Palazzo dei Mercedari, Modica, Sicily Salon d’Automne, Salon des Indépendants, Salon des Artistes Françaises, Paris University Artists 1972 Group Exhibition and Solo Exhibition (with engravings by Julian Temple), Kings College & Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge, UK Awards: • Art et la Bannière Prize, Paris – banner installed on rue de la Tombe-Issoire • Portraits selected for the Paul-Louis Weiller Portrait Prize (1993, 1996), Institut de France • Winner, Art et la Bannière Prize, Paris – Prayssac Works held in public collections, including: • Asia University Museum of Modern Art • Air France Industries • Mairie de Vitry-sur-Seine Artwork used for book covers, including publications by: • Actes Sud • Cambridge University Press • Kim Moore, The Art of Falling • titles published in France, the UK, and Australia