' m lucky, I'm doing what I really want to do. Last year Steve Bindon
decided to take his art seriously. This, combined with his love of the wildlife of Asia
have led to the development of a strong vision. I always painted when I was a child, but
stopped when I went into the forces. I spent 11 years in the British Forces. When I left,
I had more time to myself and started to paint again as a hobby. I never studied art but
found myself doing it more and more over the next six years. Last year I decided I wanted
to take it seriously. But I wanted to do more than just paint. Nature and wildlife have
always been one of Steve's main artistic inspirations. HIs art is an amazingly realistic
documentation of Asian wildlife.
I have always liked nature, and my art teaches about wildlife.
Steve's love of
nature lead to a concern for its conservation and the protection of threatened wildlife.
It's
up to individual people to take the initiative. There is so much to do to protect nature
and few opportunities for people to get involved and learn about what they can do. There
are a lot of people who care and want to do things, you?ve got to give them the chance to do something.
I decided to try and do something myself. I decided to make my own organization and
provide information that wasn
't there. Many environment organizations in Japan
have excellent environment plans and scientific research, but have a problem in
communicating this information to the public. My organization, ONE, will be the
information provider between the environment groups and the public.
Steve arrived in Japan six years ago. I was just passing through on my way to Australia
and kind of stayed. I saw opportunities in Japan.
His work with ONE addresses issues particular to
Japan. Environment organizations in Japan don't promote themselves, which I think is very
important to do. My intention is for ONE to be a Japanese-run organization, I just want to
help get it started. I see the main environment issue for Japan is for people to become
more aware of the global environment and how their overseas business concerns can affect
this. And to inform industry of the many environmentally-sustainable options for their
production processes. More specific environmental issues are the huge illegal wildlife
trade of endangered animals coming into Japan and the development of forests for golf
courses.
Steve
?s next exhibition is part of the Japan Wildlife Film Festival being held in
the Toyama Prefecture on 21-24 August. Part of the proceeds of all of Steve?s paintings go
to the ONE wildlife fund. I used to spend a lot of time dreaming about things, says Steve, its
a slow process, but you have to start somewhere.
Occupation:
LIFE IN JAPAN: