My name is Robert Worship, I am the eldest of four brothers. My mother and Father were in the publican and restaurant business.
I was interested in art from an early age. I attended an art course at Cambridge Regional College at the age of 16. I was interested in sculpture and gained a BTEC National in it. About two months after passing, I got a job in graphic design with a company called Electric Sound and Pictures, it lasted three months. During my short stay, I did work for some very famous bands of the time (the Shamen and U2, to name a few). This is where my interest in Japanese Kanji began as the Shamen used a lot of it in their art work.
When I left the company, my life took a turn for the worse. I moved to Cornwall were I made friends with a DJ who owned a record shop.
I was homeless and sleeping on the streets and used to stand in his shop to keep warm. It was him who first got me into Graffiti. I did many pieces around the West Country, and was eventually arrested and diagnosed with a mental illness and then placed in a secure psychiatric hospital for a few years.
Unfortunately I would then be in and out of psychiatric hospitals for most of my life. After about 4/5 years in the west country I returned to Cambridge where once again I became homeless and turned to crack and heroin for a number of years. During this period, I still kept an interest in Graffiti and somehow managed to attend a course in graphic design. I achieved a pass in a BTEC National in graphic design.
I had many problems after this period in my life and found myself in a cycle of drug addiction/homelessness which led to crime and time spent in psychiatric hospitals.
During all this I met a lady who eventually became my wife and who helped me to get clean, I got a job and had a son. It was at this point my interest in graffiti returned, but instead of the street I turned to painting canvases.
I continued this passion even after my divorce, loss of job and once again drug addiction and hospital admittances, but during the lows I was still painting. During this time there were exhibitions in cafes and certain charity run gallery’s, like Open Studios and occasionally Hills Road 6th Form College.
Eventually I got clean again and found a home. It was during this time that I decided to attend a BA course in Graphics at Anglia Ruskin School of ART. I took an extra year to pass but I got a 2:1. It was during this that I rekindled my passion for typography especially Japanese Kanji. My final project was five bespoke record sleeve designs for a Japanese grime artist and this is were I decided to start painting canvases again.
Because of the BA Degree, I now research and put a lot of depth into each canvas I do. There are many techniques and methods that I use to create each finished piece, and they evolve a little bit each time . I have truly learnt a lot and come a long way and I hope that my canvases show this.
Thank you to all that have supported me through the good times and the bad, including the numerous charity’s and persona who have encouraged me and helped and shown me there is a path you can go even if you don’t think it’s possible. I hope that my example can show people that have been in similar circumstances that your dreams can come true and anything is possible with a little help and passion.