Andrew Bracey's making a name for himself (sometimes literally, he's created his signature in neon) through his prolific passion for painting. Bracey takes everyday materials and turns them into abstract paintings but according to Bracey he fails to do this. "It isn't a problem to me as they become something else, often more interesting." Bracey likes to tread a fine line, his work lies somewhere between the real and the abstract. Currently he is painting hundreds of nail heads with different painting styles. "They can be viewed as a load of nails, " he explains "individually as separate paintings or on mass as a big dot painting."

Bracey is keen that his work is seen in the context of painting in order that it can be discussed in that language. "It's similar to the way Stockholder (Jessica) says her work is painting rather than sculpture." Whilst retrogressive, this is not a problem for Bracey, and of course he absorbs many facets of contemporary art. "This filters into my work in an organic way." For Bracey the title of a piece is almost a necessary evil, a means to an end, in guiding the viewer to his perspective. "The important thing is the ideas and the way the work is made, the title often comes at the end of the process, a good piece of work should hopefully hold up above the title."

Bracey like many artists before him has suffered for his art; he put on weight (that he just cannot lose) after spending a year eating a packet of pistachio nuts every day to paint on and he also slipped a disc after bending over a painting all day. "I couldn't move, I had to crawl around for about 3 weeks and mucked up my back for life. Talk about suffering for your art!"

Mike Dawson, Flux magazine, issue 40.