British artist, born in Pembury, Kent. He studied at Canterbury College of Art, 1985–6, and *Goldsmiths College, 1986–9, where he became friends with Damien *Hirst and Sarah *Lucas and took part in Hirst's ‘Freeze’ exhibition. His work tended to be less brash and rather more cerebral than that of his colleagues and as a result was sometimes overlooked. (He was not included in the ‘Sensation’ exhibition of 1997.) Gallery Connections (1991–6, Tate) is a series of audio tapes produced by the simple expedient of phoning various galleries, putting the hand sets together and withdrawing and recording the resulting confused conversations. On one level this can be interpreted as a satire on the inward-looking nature of the art world. The fascination of the work goes further as people who all know each other find their customary relationships made strange and unsettling.