Back in the early 90's I went to see an exhibition of 3 local artists in my old highschool of all places. These were established artists, working in the field of magical realism and fantasy art. I was fascinated by what I saw there and I think it was a pivotal moment in my life where I decided I wanted to become an 'artist'.
I tried drawing at first, then tried painting and sculpting in clay. I wasn't any good at any of those things.
Someone suggested metal.
I had just started working in the family blacksmithing business, hammering and welding steel all day, so the last thing I wanted to do was work with metal after hours, but then one saturday I went into the shop and made something non-functional and an idea started to grow.
I wanted to make a knight. Not the traditional armour, but something with a bit of a fantasy twist. And why not make it a female form? I had absolutely no idea how to do this, but logic said I should start with a wireframe and then take it from there.
It took a year and a half because, like I said, I had no idea what I was doing. I was using steel, some bits of aluminum and copper. My dad had just taught me how to work with copper so I incorporated that into the sculpture as well.
There were mistakes, but nothing that couldn't be fixed or that were too bad. I slowly seemed to get the hang of it and I liked what I was creating.
So in 1996 I made this...
I named her 'Nemesis'.
She's still here and despite numerous requests, she is not and never will be for sale. She was the first of the Asylum series and I walk past her every day. She is not perfect and I see the little mistakes I made and which I have learned from. I don't think I'll ever make one like this again. She's quite unique, even in the Asylum series.
Those 3 artists... One became a good friend, one became a mentor and the third one... well, let's not go there.
But that's where it all started...
