AJ Burns painted prodigiously as a child but was “actively discouraged” by his teachers and family from taking art in high school. He swapped paint for a set square, ruler and pencil, focused on maths, and went on to study civil engineering.

After years as a successful entrepreneur, he founded a vodka distillery and then Covid prohibition hit. At a loose end, AJ attended an art class with an old friend and a good 35 years after he’d laid down his brushes, he found himself “playing with acrylics” in a neighbor's garage.

He was intrigued to see how the paint moved but there was no electricity in the garage to move the paint with a hair dryer as he had intended. So out of frustration, he blew the paint with his mouth to see what would happen and loved the way one colour moved through another.

Four years on, AJ is still literally breathing his life into his large, expressionistic fish artworks. He lays down one paint colour, drops a second on top of it, and then blows the second colour through the first, creating vibrant movement. The effect is a burst of energy, colour, and texture that evokes a range of emotions, tranquillity and calmness.

“I love the unpredictability of it,” he enthuses. “The paint seems to come to life - it keeps moving even when I’ve finished.” Drying takes up to two weeks as the paint is more than 4mm thick.

AJ’s work has been sold to clients around the world and is currently represented by selected art galleries across South Africa and now at Arty Corner in Wimbledon!

5% of all of AJ’s sales is donated to The Litterboom Project to help protect the rivers and oceans that inspire all of his work. For more info please visit: www.thelitterboomproject.com.