‘St Jerome considers the Fate of Animals’. 183cm x 183cm. Oil on Board. Signed. POA

“This key work seems to comment upon the artist’s ability to depict a range of diverse objects to create an image seemingly pregnant with meaning – potentially, in Aragon’s phrase ‘a delirium of interpretation.’ This can be identified in two paintings on related themes from 1995/6 – ‘St Anselm Foresees the Method of his Martyrdom’ and ‘St Jerome Considers the fate of Animals’. Rather than relating a narrative as indicated by their Titles, and despite the evidently contemplative (as indicated by foreseeing and considering) Saintly heads with haloes and ‘attributes’ (however arbitrary), the two works develop the idea of the essential theatricality of painting. Making use of the curtain motif and a range of objects and effects, these two images raise the issue of painting as an act of faith – for the painter (creator) as well as for the spectator (believer) – which in turn focuses back on the apparent subject of the works.” Robert Hall, Kirklees Cultural Services