about me…
I am Duncan Finch - and this website is the home for everything I create
I grew up on the edge of London where it meets Essex, surrounded by Epping Forest, and studied at Glasgow School of Art, beginning a life-long connection with Scotland.
Several years ago I was diagnosed with Parkinsons - which affects my life in many ways, and has acted as the spur for me to make changes to how I live.
After several decades in architectural practice I have taken steps to change the emphasis of how I work, giving more prominence to my graphic art, embracing the full breadth of my design interests, and allowing myself the freedom to work across boundaries between creative disciplines.
Over time I intend to grow this website into a place that fully represents my full range of interests, and that can act as a hub for collaborations and causes I believe in, and as a test bed for how I can continue to express myself as my Parkinson’s progresses.
How I work…
People have said to me - why do you use the iPad? It’s not real drawing - it’s inauthentic. Well I’ve never been that keen on authenticity when elevated to a principle or a moral stance. But that view of authenticity doesn’t end there - wouldn’t it be more meaningful to embrace the impact of Parkinson’s on my drawing?
It might be, and I do experiment with that, but right now my act of defiance against the condition wreaking havoc in my head is to refuse it visibility in my work - and in so doing to capture the vision I hold in the part of my brain that works right.
Perhaps it is because I feel sensitive of how my work will be perceived, or perhaps just because I am awkward and have an endless capacity to make things difficult for myself, but I go to extreme lengths to develop ‘hand-made’ processes to generate my drawings. This, I suppose, is my own form of authenticity. When I work in 3D in SketchUp, for example, I hand-draw all the textures I use to render the models, and forbid myself any ready-made elements. By this method I seek to steer away from the slick uniformity of so much current architectural visualisation.
Right now I wouldn’t consider using AI to generate images - but in future, as my condition progresses, I might. I may not be in a position to be picky. Or I may just stop - I reserve the choice.
Looking to the future…
In November 2023 I underwent Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) surgery, in which two holes are formed in the skull, and electrodes are inserted into the brain to stimulate the Subthalamic Nucleus (part of the Basal Ganglia at the heart of the brain). The stimuli are transmitted along tiny electrical leads from a small device located in the chest. DBS has the potential to reduce the impacts of Parkinson’s, including those such as tremor that make drawing difficult.
I drew the self portrait below in the days after surgery. It leans into the more gothic aspects of the procedure such as the puncture wounds caused by the metal frame that is screwed to the skull prior to the procedure, and the rows of staples closing the incisions in the scalp. I wouldn’t want people to think that the actual experience is traumatic - it’s really not so bad.
