Time Lapse

People have always asked me how I create my pieces. So, to answer this I began
taking photos of my work throughout the creative process to reveal the journey. The first four pieces in this section “Everything”, “Herd Community”, “Olympic Strong” and “The Race Against Time” were commissioned by the Olympic Culture & Heritage Foundation specifically for the 2020 Olympic & Paralympic Games Tokyo Olympic Agora Exhibition as part of the Olympian Artist in Residence Program.

Click the buttons THOUGHTS and/or SEQUENCES to see time-lapse images

Pierre de Coubertin – Olympic Inspiration

FASTER – HIGHER – STRONGER – TOGETHER

Everything

I wanted to pay homage to some of the greatest athletes in javelin throwing history – my specialty – from the USA’s former world record holder Al Cantello in the 1950s to the current world record holder, Jan Zelezny, and last year’s world-leading thrower Johannes Vetter. All three of these incredible athletes threw themselves into the air and onto the ground after they launched the javelin on their very best throws. They gave it ‘everything’ they had, held nothing back: great visual examples of the competitive Olympic spirit of determination, overcoming adversity, and pushing the envelope of what is possible and what we think is possible.

The painting is a visual representation of Olympic javelin history. The lines depict the colors of the national flags of the javelin gold medalists at each Olympic Games – going from left to right starting with Sweden’s Eric Lemming’s two wins in 1908 and 1912 (blue and yellow) and ending with Germany’s Thomas Röhler in 2016 (black, red and gold).

Herd Community

This painting symbolizes the worldwide communal effort to overcome the pandemic, which requires hard work, collaboration, and community effort.
The road cyclists are coming at the viewer, pushing as hard as they can. They are individuals, but they are visually all connected to each other and within the confines of the rectangle (human race/planet). I chose road cyclists because they work in teams when they compete, not just as individuals.

The cyclists, seemingly floating in space, are not touching the ground. In this dark time in human history, when we are dealing with the unknown, I wanted to convey hope and optimism.

Olympic Strong

This piece is about the strength and power of the Olympic Movement and the Olympic ideals and values, and the Movement’s creativity in overcoming adversity, succeeding, and ultimately thriving.

The iconic and symbolic five interlocking Olympic rings are under attack from every angle, but they remain intact, unbroken, and strong – they are five rings, but one powerful, enduring symbol recognised around the world, representing the strength of an idea.

The Race Against Time

In this painting, I turned the five Olympic rings into five figures running for the finish line. The race is on to get back to normal, to find a cure for the COVID-19 virus, to overcome the pandemic. The postponed Tokyo 2020 Games, being held in 2021, are a historic and symbolic event. I made this piece colourful to reflect hope, joy, and optimism for the future, being respectful to the past and present but celebrating the future.

The Race Against Time is a symbolic image that captures this unique moment in human history and Olympic history. The Olympic Games celebrate life, youth, excellence. They are about taking part, doing your best, reaching for the stars. They are about pushing yourself, going beyond the expected, raising the bar. In this painting, there can be no single winner. We are all individuals, yes, but to win this race we must work together collectively, put aside our differences and become one global community helping each other.