Driving Home
Driving Home marked the first major national recognition of my work, winning the People's Choice Award at the British Art Prize 2024. More importantly, it established one of the central ideas that continues to shape my painting today: how familiar places become transformed by artificial light after dark, and how ordinary journeys can hold unexpected moments of beauty.
For most people, a petrol station is simply somewhere to stop before continuing the journey home. It's a place we rarely notice, despite visiting countless times throughout our lives. What caught my attention wasn't the petrol station itself, but the contrast between its vivid illuminated canopy and the deep blue of the evening sky. Against the darkness, the familiar became almost theatrical.
Situated on one of Newquay's main routes, the petrol station is a place thousands of people pass every day. During daylight it blends almost unnoticed into the surrounding streets, but after dark the illuminated canopy becomes a striking beacon against the evening sky.
Few places are more ordinary than a petrol station, yet almost everyone has experienced this moment. The quiet routine of stopping on the way home, the bright lights against the darkness, the familiar smell of fuel and the anticipation of finally reaching home are experiences shared across Britain every evening.
It can feel oddly calm. There are long stretches where nothing much happens, fewer customers, quieter roads, and a kind of stillness you don’t get during the day. Every car pulling in, every person walking through the door stands out more than it would during the day.
