My name is Neil Mac Farlane, and I was born and raised in a small town along the coastal shores of England. My early working career began in a local shipyard building nuclear submarines and later studying art at university. In the year 2000 I moved to Sweden with my partner and began life as a Forestry Worker and builder. For the last 10 years I have been lucky enough to work for “Scania” producing prototype cabins for their haulage trucks. My artistic working methods have been developed and refiened many times. From waiting for divine intervention, to frustration and anger at the way humans behave and interact with eachother. I am inquisitive, questioning and contemplative. I resolve probems and then ask myself the same question again only to arrive at a totaly different answer. As you might have guessed my unstilled mind only gives me fleeting moments of relief in the form of sporadic sleep.

When my parents died the only item I took from their house was a small ceramic plaque depicting an owl and a pussycat in a boat . Many years earlier, I had asked my mother why she had purchased this particular ornament. “It reminds me of your father and I, two unlikely creatures in the same boat getting along as best they can.“ The answer had stuck fast in my mind for at least 30 years. So how does this translate into artwork? During any persons working life, you will always come across people you do not get on with no matter how hard you try. I had attached the saying “like a monkey on my back” to this situation. In the picture there are two figures looking at each other, one of which is on the others back, he represents the monkey. The other figure is angry and has weapons in his hands ready to harm the monkey. Between them there is a mast with a white flag and below them, a boat with oars. The waves represent the turmoil between them.