Winterreise in words and pictures
Schiele's prison cell, Neulengbach 2012

I am currently working on 24 new poems re-imagining the 24 songs of Schubert's Winterreise (1827-28). Schubert's settings for the poems of Willhelm Müller became an iconic song-cycle. My aim is to write new works sharing the titles of the 24 songs but re-casting the "winter journey" of a man suffering lost love into a post-apocalyptical journey through a nuclear-winter landscape. To accompany the 24 literary re-interpretations I will be creating twenty-four self-referencing expressionist artworks during a single night spent in the cell where Egon Schiele was imprisoned in Neulengbach, Austria in 1912. (My imprisonment will be filmed and braodcast live on the web overnight 15-16 June 2012.) Schiele created thirteen famous drawings in this same cell.

This project is affiliated to a five-month festival and exhibition inspired by the centenary of Schiele's notorious imprisonment. The works will be presented to the public on June 16th at 10.15am in Lengenbach Hall. At 3.00pm I will join international Schiele scholars for a symposium on the theme "Egon Schiele in Neulengbach". I hope to use giant back-projections of these works for a future live performance of Schubert's masterpiece.

The Screaming House, Sunderland 2013

"What a gift for the town of Sunderland and what an homage to Edvard Munch and his vanished Oslo home ..."
Dr. Alessandra Comini, University Distinguished Professor of Art History Emerita at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas

When Edvard Munch died in 1944 the totality of his possessions passed to the city of Oslo. His large Ekely house, jammed with furniture, materials and artworks was cleared, and in 1960 knocked down. I am working on an ambitious project inspired by Munch's lost house for 2013 - the 150th anniversary of Munch's birth. The project is targeted for my home city of Sunderland and involves attempting to place an illuminated outline of Munch's house onto the roof of a Sunderland tower block. Follow a real-time account of this adventure on the dedicated website: www.thescreaminghouse.org.uk.

Opera of Blood online

This 52 poem verse sequence inspired by Hungarian mass-murderess Elizabeth Bathory ("The Blood Countess") was written in 2008. The work is now published in its entirety on this website. The sequence draws on many art historical, philosophical and science fiction references (elucidated in footnotes)and is my comment on the nature of evil in the modern world. Follow the Opera of Blood link in the main menu, left. Your comments on this work are warmly welcomed and I would enjoy hearing from anyone who has made the long, bloody, soul-searching march through all 52 poems.

(Note to academic institutions: I am available to give an extended seminar on this work.)

I am (not) Edvard Munch

The 150th anniversary of Edvard Munch's birth falls on 12 December 2013. Visitors to this website will be aware of the affinity I have for Norway's famous artist. Since my time as artist-in-residence in Munch's studio (2008) I have been developing a range of ideas for artworks celebrating the bond I have with Munch. I intend to release a gathering of these creations onto the public during December 2013. Currently, I am exploring possible venues where my "children" (as Munch called his works) might be allowed to dance.

More later ...

Sentence

This long-term project involves the creation of a portrait series inspired by an ongoing letter exchange with US-based, British former businessman and art collector Phillip Bennett, convicted of securities fraud in 2008, and now serving a 16-year sentence in New York's Fort Dix prison. Each four-foot square work will be based on a single photograph of Phil and his wife Val taken whilst Phil was under house arrest pending trial. I will continue adding artworks to this series until his release. (Major first triptych nearing completion.)

The O'Cain Wall

As an adjunct to The Screaming House I aim to develop a glass-tiled wall containing the complete text (365 tiles) from my 1976 "Scribbling Diary". This diary, a sole record from my boyhood years, chronicles with spectacular tedium the ennui of mid-teen, mid-70s Sunderland life. I choose glass for its Sunderland heritage, and hope this glorious homage to schoolday drudgery can be permanently installed in the city.