Heads (large format paintings)

The Heads Series came about through a dissatisfaction with the constraints of figurative painting where character and likeness are predominantly used as critical determinants of quality.

I had been interested in Seurat’s symbolic studies of expression, where the human head was reduced to simple lines to indicate emotional difference. The series of large-scale paintings was undertaken between 1987 to 1989. All of these works were 2 metres x 2 metres square. Head XX was selected for the John Moores Liverpool XV national painting show and awarded a joint 3rd prize. There painting is included in an installation image at the Walker Art Gallery hanging next to an Eileen Cooper. The last work within the series was En Passant (In Passing) a triptych painting of 3 x 1.2 x 1.2 metre square canvases and panels