I became fascinated with his striking work, his story, and his progression and his drive to build his brand, and I eventually acquired a couple of his works that I fell in love with on the first day we met, after years of resistance from my wife at the time, pretty soon after we divorced.

Richard became a great friend and what was meant to be an evening of him sharing his journey to the Cape Epic mountain bike race in my bike shop, Spokes, became a full on art exhibition with some sales closed on the night!

We then planned some bigger and better shows together and I couldn’t believe that I was successfully selling the work of a respected international artist.

This grew, as did the opportunities, with other artists, and got to a point where I was doing something else I loved that became more than a side business.

It felt like it was becoming important, and in the same way I see the excitement, joy and emotion of people cycling; art is even more so.

We live in a fast paced world where there are distractions everywhere. Art forces you to be present. When you stand in front of a work that you connect with, it can move you so deeply. It has a complex simplicity to it that can really provoke deep thought and feeling.

I love the variety of art, I love both the unity and the division it creates. There is some work that is so obviously beautiful to some, and so profoundly offensive to others. How it is assigned meaning, or simply allows you to lose yourself for a few minutes to another place, another life or into your own mind.

I never set out to be an art dealer, but as I am opening this wonderful space filled with astonishing works from such a variety of wonderful people, I feel like I was always destined to be one.