43cm x 43cm - Framed

Acrylic & spray paint on canvas

'Sweet Surrender' captures that perfect split second between affection and resistance - one happy kid, one deeply unimpressed cat, and a familiar moment that is probably in just about every family's photo album.

With oversized aviators, a striped T-shirt and a grumpy cat resigned to its fate, this piece draws on those small moments of childhood that are funny, familiar and full of personality.

I’m a Melbourne-based artist working primarily with hand-cut stencils and spray paint. I’ve been a full-time artist since 2007, after spending 15 years in graphic design - which probably explains why I still obsess over composition, colour and whether something is three millimetres out.

My work is driven by storytelling, memory and the strange way ordinary images stick with us. Much of it draws on Australian life in the 1970s and 80s - suburban streets, old cars, pop culture and the little visual details that can suddenly take you straight back somewhere.

I’m interested in that moment when an image triggers a feeling before you’ve quite worked out why. The memories often start with my own experiences, but ideally the paintings leave enough room for people to bring their own stories to them.

Each work is built from hand-cut, layered stencils and spray paint. There’s a lot of intricate, time consuming cutting, a lot of paint and occasionally some questioning of my sanity. I like the tension between precision and imperfection - sharp edges, overspray, layering and all the things that stop it feeling too slick.