Liam: Congrats on your upcoming exhibition, It all started back in Ladbroke Grove where you were born, an area which is a melting pot of culture’s especially, music and style. How do you feel growing up there influenced your work and tastes in later life?

Luke: Thank you. I’ve just finished installing the exhibition, so I’m excited to open now. 

Yeah, I was born in Ladbroke Grove and, although I only lived there in my early years, I’d return as a teenager to skate and then again in my twenties, when I managed a restaurant there. There’s definitely a place in my heart for Ladbroke Grove.

It has such a strong Caribbean and wider multicultural heritage, which is something I’ve really missed when I’ve lived in places where that mix of cultures isn’t so present. Musically, reggae, lovers rock and dub are regularly played at home and sit very comfortably in pretty much any playlist I put together. And the food, I love jerk chicken, and if curried goat is on a menu I’ll make a beeline for it. I had it at a restaurant last weekend and I’m salivating just thinking about it.

" Noticing things that might otherwise pass you by, collecting them and turning them into something else"

There are also some great thrift and vintage shops around there, and of course Portobello market. In terms of fashion and personal style, generally I think growing up in London gave me the confidence to experiment and not worry too much about fitting into one particular look. 

It’s harder to pinpoint exactly how Ladbroke Grove influenced my artwork. I suspect those early surroundings shaped my visual tastes more than I consciously realise. My dad had a design studio in Marylebone, and I remember being taken to galleries as a kid, so art and design were around me from a very early age. Looking at the way I work now, pulling together memories, photographs, film, music and bits of popular culture, perhaps that early exposure to such a mixture of things has stayed with me.

Liam: what are some of your favourite music venues in London ?

Luke: I love Brixton Academy, I first went there when I was six, so that would definitely be on the list. I’d also like to return to Ronnie Scott’s, although I’m really keen to check out the recently opened Blue Note.

And lastly, the Royal Albert Hall. I’ve never actually experienced a musical performance there, so it’s firmly on the bucket list. I’d particularly love to see a contemporary artist perform there. I was gutted to miss Goldie performing an orchestral rendition of his album, Timeless.

Liam: Francis Bacon and David Hockney were also big inspo's for you, they both adopted strong tailored looks as their everyday uniform, are you someone who has a go to piece or look day to day ?

Luke: I love both their art and their style. I’ve got a few go-to pieces that work with most looks, but I wouldn’t say I have a uniform as such. I wear a few different hats day to day, figuratively speaking: dad, artist, football coach, so perhaps that slightly chameleonic lifestyle has led me to mix and match quite a lot. I might wear a chunky roll neck with bright red tracksuit bottoms and a leather jacket one day, then a tailored shirt with a vest and baggy jeans the next. 

I’ve got some beautiful suits too, although it’s not quite as easy as it used to be to find an occasion to dress for. I should start inventing them.

Liam: What is it about Edward Sextons signature house style that enables it to still evoke such rebellious, alternative reactions and remain the tailors of choice for artists and people within the creative world such as yourself.

Luke: Edward Sexton suits continue to push the boundaries of form and fashion unapologetically. Whether it’s a punchy lapel or an extra inch across the thigh, a Sexton suit toes the line between radical and refined without sacrificing sartorial elegance.

It’s a tall order to push against the constraints of something inherently conformist without falling over the cliff into costume, but the team at Edward Sexton manage it coolly. There’s a rebelliousness but the foundations are still impeccable tailoring. Creatives love a contradiction, so I think this is why E.S. always appealed to people in the creative world, you can respect the rules while still bending them.

Liam:  I noticed a lot of references to the hit TV series Mad men in your work; You have also shared in the past your admiration for Edward Hopper’s paintings, is that era ( 50s/60s) a big inspiration for you and what is it about it that inspires you?

Luke: Yeah, 1950s and ’60s America features a lot in my earlier work, I think the distance is part of the attraction. I never experienced 1950s or ’60s America firsthand, so I’m interested in that slightly false memory of an era, something that feels familiar even though I was never there. 

I’m very fond of Hopper’s paintings. There’s a kind of brash elegance to that period that makes it an interesting setting aesthetically. But I think it was the mood of the time that drew me in more than anything.

There’s a rebelliousness and sense of reinvention running through Mad Men that makes those characters interesting to paint, but there’s also a strange dissociation and loneliness beneath all that surface glamour. It features heavily in Edward Hopper’s painting, and that contradiction appealed to me at the time.

Before leaving I was curious to ask Luke the age old , somewhat cliched question i'm sure he is sick of; what does being an artist mean to him, his response seems an apt way to end the interview.....

Luke: An artist is a human being with the characteristics of a magpie. They notice things, it could be something overheard, a memory, a scene from a film, a photograph in a newspaper, or something completely mundane. They pick these things up, drag them back to the nest and collect them, to rearrange later on. Eventually, something can be made of the mess.

I think that’s what art is, really: noticing things that might otherwise pass you by, collecting them and turning them into something else.