I have added this new piece to Gallery 2020-.

This is ‘4’ – the first piece of work to be wholly made in 2021. The reasons we’ve hit May and this is still the only piece finished are that it was quite time-consuming to make and I was concentrating on writing in the early part of the year (see new ‘Books’ section also freshly added to this site). I have, however, also modified some earlier works. I felt ‘02’ needed something, and I have also tweaked the two ‘Hatch’ pieces. See revised versions in Gallery 2020-.

‘Pedants’ Revolt’ from 2018, which also gave the sense that it needed to go further, has also undergone radical change.

It has crossed my mind that maybe I should find some term other than ‘painting’ for some of these works. Many are effectively wall-mounted sculptures, rather than paintings, deliberately made to look more like objects from the real world than paintings of or inspired by the real world. ‘4’ is two panels that do not line up and are of different depths from the wall; the ‘Hatch’ pieces are not really much like paintings at all. But it is useful creatively not to have to fit a particular definition. Better that these are ‘pieces of work’ or ‘something I made’, with the freedom to meet the characteristics they need to, than they conform to some additional limitations.