This is the most recent addition to “Identity Parade”, the series devoted to Fernando Pessoa. It is one of a set of 20 x 24 inch canvases which I began in 2013. The others came together quite quickly, but not this one. Because I wanted both to tease out and impose an image (or three) it involved a deal of trial and error to try to find some kind of balance…. Why the make up of a picture should have overly complex intentions is questionable. But whatever the reasoning behind it, the painterly task I (sometimes) give myself is to see whether an absurd set of criteria can hold together and still work as a painting. I think this one does, it has a strange power – maybe, if you can bear with its narrative aspect, understand the characters involved and are able to stomach density, richness and colour – then it works.
oil on canvas
61 cm x 51 cm
2016