Art
Victims: Images of fear and compassion
Until he passed away at the age of 53, Ian was Head of Fine Art at Middlesex Polytechnic, a job that took up much of his time.
Despite a heavy workload, he was a prolific artist and in 1983 he completed a series of oil paintings quite unlike anything he had created before, relating to the Holocaust and other examples of man’s fearful ability to dehumanize.
Simon Read of Middlesex University has written of the paintings: “Ian did not avoid reaching deep into himself to give form to inhumanity… unflinching severity in the face of the festering sore of genocide. In the quiet of his studio he entertained and absorbed the universality of the Holocaust, that single great abuse, and understood that it is a condition of humanity and is sadly not singular.
“From this he painted a substantial series of stark wraiths still present but absent, articulate but extinguished.”
One of his wishes was that these paintings should not be sold, but be shown to the public in a positive and regenerative way.
This is the first time since 1991 that the paintings have been shown together.
Jan 25-29, 10am-5pm. For more info, visit www.centrespacegallery.com/exhibitions
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