Portraiture and the recognizable silhouette of a head and bust is a motif I have kept constant throughout my work. The shape is reminiscent of a keyhole, and placed within an oval format it allows me to connect the viewer to a tradition of painting firmly rooted in the past.
However, through using mixed media, such as collage, and using high key colour to imbue the painting with an almost acidic, lurid quality, the imagery becomes “updated”. I paint on a miniature format, mirroring the small and covetable photographs and postcards that stimulate our memories of certain events.-A. Virji
