The ‘Counterfoil’ paintings are a continuation of a series of work based on the theme of Doctors’ signatures and other gestural identifying or authorising marks such as those on receipts or counterfoils.

I’m interested in these hastily executed, abstract, gestural marks which have an almost ‘throwaway’ quality, yet which hold and represent such a wealth of meaning – having been developed over the bearers’ lifetimes. Handwritten, personal and unique, these marks are also refreshingly expressive ‘jewels’ in an increasingly digitised era.

I draw enlarged sections or combinations of signatures onto canvas. These act as central figures that feed me with formal prompts and suggestions for developing the overall compositions. I feel that working in this way, I am able to include oblique cultural references in the paintings, whilst at the same time, retaining the desired degree of autonomy.

The paintings also draw on the influence of painters such as Stuart Davis, who used popular culture imagery and graphics as source material for his jazzy, rhythmic paintings of the 1950’s and ‘60’s; and Jonathan Lasker, who develops small abstract doodles into large paintings, in which the reproduced and scaled-up lines take on a monumental quality and are expressive of a spontaneity frozen in time.

Seven of the paintings are now in the permanent collection of the NHS Teaching Hospitals Trust and are to be displayed at the new Yorkshire Cancer Centre. Two others are in a private collection.

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