Motivations

Some years ago a friend asked me, "What is it with you and psychiatric hospitals?"  He was referring to the presence of abandoned psych hospitals in my paintings at the time.  What surprised me with this question was that he, like me, had studied at art school.  He obviously didn't understand the concept of metaphor, that is; my paintings may have been of psych hospitals, but they were not necessarily about them.

Rainy Day At Aradale                    Oil on canvas on board
2007

It is possible I see the abandoned hospital as a symptom of governments withdrawing from their responsibilities towards society, the end of the welfare state for instance.  Then again there may be a more fundamental, even personal reason for why these establishments resonate with me so powerfully.  Either way, it really doesn't matter.  The key issue is, to make these paintings succeed as works of art.