Arts Personality of the Year 2025

If you’d told me five years ago that I’d leave the safe confines of a 9–5 engineering job for a full-time art career, I wouldn’t have believed you. But I guess dreams do come true.

Winning the award for Arts Personality of the Year was a genuine shock. As I like to joke—surely you need a personality to win that? But here we are. The “starving artist” game has been far from easy, with fresh challenges every single day. The toughest part has definitely been juggling the feast-or-famine cycle of self-employment. Don’t get me wrong, when payday comes it feels amazing, BUT the childhood urge to splurge it all on shiny trinkets is still strong. Thankfully, my accountant wife makes sure it all gets reinvested into shoes & makeup, sorry I meant business assets to help grow this little art empire. They say behind every good man is an awesome woman, and I can’t argue with that.

Big shoutout to my brother, who’s come on board to help with marketing and growing the business. I fought it for years, insisting on being a one-man band, but once I focused on making the main thing the main thing, progress started to show 🚀

I don’t know exactly what this award will bring, but I do know it’s up to me to keep shouting about it—otherwise it risks becoming just a flash in the pan. It will definitely open doors and introduce me to new people. But if you know me, you’ll know I’m not one to follow the crowd—it’s boring, it’s done. Comparing yourself to others is wasted energy. As an artist, the only thing that matters is what’s in front of me on the canvas—how I take it from concept to completion. My palette, my organised chaos, my environment—that’s what fuels it.

You make lifelong friends in this business, but it’s also a lonely game. Hours alone, creating something that sometimes only you get 😂. But belief and confidence in your craft—that’s what people invest in.

Your vibe attracts your tribe, and thanks to all of you, my tribe is growing nicely. At least you’ve all proven I do, in fact, have a personality, an arty one at that.

I say “onwards” a lot, because really, what else is there? Good news or bad, onwards we go 💪🏼

So to finish up: Galleries, art directors, movie sets, TV stations, exhibition spaces, venues, collectors, dealers, curators, buyers, if you’re reading this, feel free to reach out. I’m always open to brainstorming or seeing how I might fit into your master plan.

For everyone else who supports me or stays silent but are always there, thank you 🤙🏼

Onwards,

Pops

P.S. Did I mention I’m Arts Personality of the Year? 😂😂