ONE SMALL SEED MAGAZINE Issue #26 Digital 01 | Page 61

The celebrity profiles you’ve been commissioned to
do have a distinct sense of hyperrealism to them.
There’s that larger-than-life feeling you get; do you
think this is a candid portrayal of them in the role they
play as celebrities?
This is a good question and yes, I do believe it to be
quite a candid portrayal in regard to the role they play.
Of course those paintings are of people that exist in a
‘celebrity world’ – there’s something surreal about that. I
look at them as normal people who happen to be in the
limelight. When I paint, something happens to me inside. I
feel this energy running through me, which – I like to think
– is visible in my art. And I like the shock value that comes
with painting hyperreal portraits of people. They appear
as photographs but I've actually created them with an
airbrush. We had one of the Dizzee Rascal portraits in the
kitchen and my friend's father-in-law came in and said
'My God that's a big photo!' My friend and me started
laughing and when we explained what the painting was
actually done with, he was blown away. I like it when that
happens.
Your project Supermodels explores themes of identity;
the perception of what’s real; and H]Y\