aka: When did you find out that art is your calling?

TF:There was no one time or Eureka moment, it has always been a part of who I am.

aka: What inspired you at the beginning?

 TF: It’s difficult to say what inspired me at the beginning, because I just loved losing myself in a kind of visual focus, I could sit and draw for hours on end as a child, this brought a huge sense of achievement

If there was a beginning or a turning point it would have been at art college and discovering a world of art, the likes of which I’d never seen! I learned the importance and power of art as a form of expression and communication.

aka: Who are the artists/musicians/mentors you look up to for inspiration?

TF: There are probably too many artists and musicians to mention, though as a student my favourite painters were Edvard Munch and Francis Bacon; latterly I’ve been informed, inspired and challenged by Cy Twombly, Robert Motherwell, Antoni Tapies, Phillip Guston and many more! 

Music has also influenced my work. In my formative teenage years the birth of punk had a huge impact on me, with bands like the Clash, writing protest songs and expressing everyday issues and social injustices.

This was as important as the experimental instrumentation and musicality that was pushing boundaries and almost secondary to the lyrics at times. Forty or so years on and I listen to new bands/artists who have taken the mantle, which inspire paintings directly, even if just using a lyric as a painting title.

aka: Which materials are the most pleasant to work with for you at the moment and why?

TF: I love the quality of line that only spray paint can achieve. It also affords a directness and gestural energy that I love.

aka: What was the most memorable reaction to your work?

TF: Six or seven years ago I had a number of portrait paintings in a group show. They’d all been painted in a very loose, drippy and expressive way, using household gloss paint. A woman stood facing one of these paintings for a very long time, as I’d been standing behind her I hadn’t seen her expression. She turned to me with a red face, wet with tears and said she was so moved by the piece she just had to have it! 

aka: Art often is a reaction to current events or expression of an emotional state - what are the events of today that makes you want to react through art?

Absolutely! Everything from family and friends to world events and current affairs! My chairs series came about as a direct result of conflict between Israel and Hamas.

aka: What keeps you going?

Put simply - an urgent need to express myself in the most honest way I can.