ARTISTS TALKING

The motivation for this was an interest in a perceived notion of American culture in general, and specifically from books and films based on the writings of Raymond Chandler and Damon Runyon. I attempted to capture the essence of America as I had imagined it might be, but returned with a suitcase of photographs of anonymous and mundane street scenes, passing cars, yellow cabs and high-rise buildings. Since then I have travelled in America on a number of occasions creating a library of images.

'Urban Myth' is the title of a body of work made over the past two years based on these photographs, and on images of Glasgow in a similar genre. All but a few have been digitally manipulated before being developed as screenprints: it is this combination with that has offered me the greatest creative possibilities.

The predominant series of prints featuring modern architecture, with neighbouring buildings reflected on their glass-clad surfaces, combines current interests with an earlier interest in reflections. Often the prints are based on landmark buildings, although this is not generally discernible, and titles such as Jackson Boulevard, Lexington Avenue or Wellington Street offer only clues.

In printing, the ink is bled off the edge of the paper, with the rough edge picking up the ink in an erratic fashion, illustrating the history of the print while in the process mitigating an inherent slickness.