In The Land of Ulro

Ulro is a state identified in the poetry of William Blake. It is the material world as perceived when seen through a purely materialistic lens. A modern example of the Ulro mind set is neatly summed in the corporate term ‘value extraction’.

Growing up in England I was raised in a culture that has a long tradition of biting satirical prints and political cartoons. I was inspired to learn the craft of etching by eighteenth and nineteenth century artists such as William Blake and James Gilray, and to follow the expressive pen and ink style of the contemporary artists Ralph Steadman and Gerald Scarf. The former were in full swing during my formative years and had seminal influence on my own way of depicting the political landscape and other dark aspects of Ulro.