Whisky tasting halloween party at Shapero Rare Books, London, October 2025 The whisky tasting at Shapero Rare Books was more than just an event; it felt like the coming together of many strands of my creative life. What most people didn’t see behind the scenes was the unlikely, joyful spark that set the whole thing in motion. Some months ago, the furniture dealer and collector Marcus Flacks approached me with an idea. Marcus is one of those rare people whose energy fills a ro

This painting began with pirates and ended in gold. It brings together childhood memories of LEGO ships, the story of William Adams, and my love of Japanese Nanban screens. Inspired by Bosch and Bruegel, and painted with traditional Japanese pigments and gold leaf, it is a floating theatre of folly, drifting between East and West.

Marble bust of Socrates Before I turned fully to art, I was trained as a sinologist: a doctor of philosophy of Chinese thought and...