About the paintings

History

I started painting in June 2000. It was a Saturday, a warm sunny afternoon. My friend and I were in the garden and she had brought her acrlyic set with her (a present from the previous Christmas). She started off mixing some colours and painting some of the flowers, I don't remember which ones. I asked for some card and a brush and tried something myself. Over the next hour I got hooked. I was 26 years old.

Artist's Statement

This was complete bullshit that I was prodded into writing. It has been removed and will never appear again. I will never talk up my own work for anyone. Make up your own mind.

My feeling about the idea of the artist's statement is so strong I wrote a poem called Artist's Statement, published in the book Mohawk Man and other poems. This poem is reproduced here, in full.

Artist's Statement

guff guff guff graduate guff guff guff guff guff guff guff
class guff guff guff honours guff guff guff working guff
guff guff guff guff guff guff guff radical guff guff guff
guff aesthetic guff guff guff guff guff guff guff guff
conceptual guff guff guff guff progressive guff guff guff
guff guff guff guff guff avant guff guff guff exploring guff
guff guff guff sensation guff guff guff guff guff guff guff
guff influence guff guff guff guff guff guff guff guff guff guff
guff guff guff flawless guff guff guff guff sublime guff
guff guff guff guff guff guff guff connection guff guff guff
guff guff guff guff guff modern guff guff guff guff guff
guff multi guff guff guff installation guff guff guff guff
guff guff guff guff show guff guff guff solo guff guff guff
guff exhibit guff guff guff guff guff guff guff guff guff
guff guff guff international guff guff guff guff inspiration
guff guff guff guff guff guff guff guff movement guff guff
guff guff guff guff guff guff sociopolitical guff guff guff
guff guff guff guff challenge guff guff guff guff guff guff
guff guff text language guff guff guff guff guff guff guff
guff deconstruct guff guff guff guff underpin guff guff
guff guff psycho guff guff guff guff guff guff theoretical
guff guff guff minimal guff guff guff guff guff guff guff
guff form guff guff guff guff guff guff guff guff dynamic
guff guff guff guff culture guff guff guff guff transform
guff guff guff guff guff guff guff guff object guff guff guff
guff pollinate guff guff guff guff gender guff guff guff
guff guff guff guff guff domestic guff guff guff guff
metaphor guff guff guff guff guff guff guff struggle guff
guff guff guff liberate guff guff examine guff guff guff
guff guff guff guff notions guff guff guff guff guff guff
guff guff interpretation guff guff guff guff mindscape
guff guff guff guff symbolise guff guff guff conflict guff
guff guff guff synthesis guff guff guff guff guff guff guff
guff establish guff guff guff major guff guff guff guff future

Artist's Statement a poem by P. J. Dodd from the book Mohawk Man and other poems publishsed 2010.

Influences

Vincent Van Gogh

Standing before his paintings is refreshing and sublime, his colour and texture breathe on me like no one else. Despite being tagged as an Impressionist, Vincent was on to something more than the fleeting moments of Monet et al. ‘Real life’ in cafes was not enough. A sense of permanence – the reflection after the sensation and sensuality of experience – lies within his paintings, undeveloped. On the top is a technique exhilarating and brash.

Henri Matisse

His freedom of the use of colour is inspiring, a constant guide to break the rules and to keep to them, until satisfied. His paintings have an attractive openness to them.

Francis Bacon

I consciously follow Bacon in one way: I work from photographs and memory, as he did. But I have also learnt his lesson on portraits and have vowed never to paint partners and lovers; Bacons works in this area are dull and uninsightful.

JMW Turner

The master of seascapes. Turner had an ability to recreate the flux of an emtoional state with apparent effortlessness.