ARTIST STATEMENT: 
Everywhere in human life, I observe concealment. People hide or mask their thoughts, feelings and motivations from self and others. Human relationships are seldom open; there are hidden agendas in personal, social and political life. Many people do not perceive what is happening below the surface; they don’t recognise that much goes on in a secret dialogue, behind closed doors or beneath the veil. I came to understand this psychology by watching the decisions, behaviours and actions of individual people around me and by observing the political actions of nation states.  In the Concealment Series I’m painting to bring the inside out. Each work has a crisp underpainting representing a recognisable form in the physical world. I overpaint a concealing layer then using sgraffito technique, engrave or scrape back the top layer to reveal a glimpse of inner experience or hidden knowledge that is normally masked by material form.