Introducing Andrew Wyatt

135 artists are taking part in "Inside Job" which takes place on the 7th and 8th of April on Level 6 of Tate Modern. Over the next few weeks The Rebel Magazine will be chatting to some of the Tate staff who are showing their artwork. Today it's the turn of Andrew Wyatt

Q) Where did you grow up and what kind of education did you receive? !My family moved from London, when I was six, and I grew up on the edge of a rural market town in Essex. eveything was brand new; house; furniture; school, ironically this encouraged my interest in social history. At sixteen I went to Colchester School of Art, and two years later won The Alfred Munnings Award Scholarship to visit Rome. It was the first time I had ever experienced Italian ice-cream (blackcurrant) I never knew ice-cream could taste so good! Photography interested me (at the time) and I worked as a full time Photographer for three years, gaining City & Guilds in Photography . I developed my own style of photo montage, then worked for many years, doing freelance illustration for publishers and advertising. During this period I went from all hand produced art work to digital; Photoshop. I studied Multi Media at St Martins."

Q) How long have you been working at the Tate and what's the best show you've seen there? "Eleven years, so many fabulous exhibitions, which communicate something wonderful, but one's that stay are Richard Hamilton, also Yayoi Kusama, I would dearly love one day, to see a Walter Sickert retrospective at Tate, as he is my favourite artist."

Q) What can you tell me about the work you're exhibiting in the Tate Modern show? "I have returned to painting only very recently. The public appeal and allure of popular, and kitsch art, has always fascinated me, I wanted to tackle the Thomas Kinkade factor. I considered photomontage, but the end result is all painted.

I have been working on a series of small paintings, recording pubs which have closed (too many)in the East End, painting them subsequently, and trying to evoke a ghost like atmosphere, with part collage - of their previous existence. I also recently painted my brother aka; Chamonix Aspen, winning a drag queen competition at the famous Halfway to Heaven pub in the west end"

Q) How can people find out more about your work - do you have a website or do Instagram? "No but I should have! shouldn't I; people can email me; andrew.wyatt@virgin.net

Q) Is there anything you have to declare / do you have a favourite quote, thought or joke you'd care to share? "Don't spend hours deciding 'what to wear' to that party; just wear yourself" Quentin Crisp.

"Inside Job": An exhibition of art by Tate Staff will take place on Level 6 of the Blavatnik Building of Tate Modern, Bankside, London SE1 9TG http://www.tate.org.uk/visit/tate-modern