I grew up in Doncaster. A small, working-class mining town in South Yorkshire, England. I studied Fine Art (Digital Printmaking) at Wolverhampton where I graduated with honours and was selected for the Mander Award for Excellence by Anish Kapoor.
For the past 20 years, I have specialised in digital design, working for large advertising agencies and running my own agency working for brands such as the BBC, Virgin and Nike.
In 2007 I created the first of my, now well recognised, penny portraits. The work quickly became an internet sensation and was featured in the national press, FT, Guardian and The Times. The penny portraits were sold at art fairs around the world and brought a number of commissions from private collectors.
My work is firmly rooted in digital techniques and process but often crosses back and forth from digital to physical. The final outcome can be either a physical piece, painting, print etc or a digital format, jpeg, Mp4 etc.
Selected Solo Shows
Made of Money. Beam Editions 2021
Selected group shows.
Affordable Art Fair NYC
London Art Fair
London Contemporary print fair
Stolenspace Gallery
Rebecca Hossack
APC Gallery
If you've got some particularly grubby pennies in your pocket, give them to another artist, Adrian Firth. The star product of Doncaster school of art and design, now based in London, is making a name with Penny Portraits, starting with the Queen and Mohamed Al Fayed. The whole thing's done using pence alone, with the dirt providing tone and texture. Success could see him move to 5ps, sorting out the problem of Britain's most annoying coin.
Geri Horner. The Guardian
The Times Newspaper. 2009