Piers Collection

An insight into what inspired these paintings.

We can’t know what’s going on in the minds of strangers. But we can imagine.

And when I see a solitary figure on a pier I imagine the person’s thoughts are far away, concerned with life’s journey. 

Because piers speak of journeys. The timeworn, mishappen, sea battered wooden piers where I live have seen so many journeys. Probably thousands over the generations. All kinds of journeys in all kinds of boats. Some going back and forth to the port just across the water, others taking people over the oceans never to return. The piers jut out over the water inviting us to leave safe land, to walk above the sea and watch the strength in its movements, the dance of light on its quiet surface, or the waves and froth the wind brings, and always the coming in and going out of the tide. Everything here is in a state of flux, nothing is fixed. And I imagine these figures are here for some kind of reckoning, taking stock of where they’ve been and where they’re going.