As an air breather, I’ve always had one foot in water, swimming and eel-tickling in bush-clad streams and then obsessively chasing and stalking fish species across the globe for the last 30 years in both streams and oceans. So naturally oceans have their tendrils entwined with every part of my life story. To be a top angler you need to think like a fish and that’s has advantages – like providing a plethora of endless inspiration and storytelling for my artwork.

I have been influenced heavily by classical artists such as Hieronymus Bosch, legendary heavy metal cover-artist Ed Repka, the ‘Lowbrow Art’ of Robert Williams (Illustrator for Guns and Roses covers) and concerns a tapestry of Celtic, Nordic, and Pacific seafaring symbolism from the countries I have stalked legendary fish.

Most works reflect an action from a more extensive story-telling sequence, concerning tales such as 10 thousand leagues under the sea, local taniwha of Tāmaki Makaurau, and family sagas of whalers and fishermen in the Marlborough sounds.