Kevin Smallman

I am a 44 year old artist currently living in London. I have lived most of my life in Kent. I completed my BA in Fine Art at UCA in Canterbury in 2014. I was fortunate to receive the Leverhulme Trust scholarship to help pay for my studies at the RCA.

When I am at work in the studio, the tools and materials that I have amassed have as much say in what happens as I do. In other words, not just the hue, but the pigment, the binder, the surface and so on - in relation to other 'things' that are around me - lead to the construction of pictures.

In a sense, I feel as if in a different life I might have been painting friends or acquaintances, but because of my natural reticence, instead I am creating those experiences from used parts: bits of paper covered in paint, shapes from old paintings, drawings of things that haven't quite resolved themselves into a nameable object.

The mood - I hope - of my work, is welcoming and open, not withdrawn. I value the fun I can have working on my own in the studio and I think this is embedded in the work itself, but it is also communicative to people who see it and I think people value that in return.