Stage Sets
paintings 1982-1985
![](femmes_fatales.jpg)
![](hornets_nest.jpg)
![](inflatable_floosies.jpg)
![](madonna.jpg)
![](making_whoppee.jpg)
The crowd paintings were followed by a series of small group paintings, picking up the themes of predation, celebration, beauty, ugliness and sexual power. These were directly influenced by Sienese paintings, which I studied intensely on various visits to Italy, attracted by their primitive qualities, strong narrative and directness. The paintings I produced at this time were deliberately small, and drew upon devices such as predellas and rotundas which I appropriated during my visits to museums and churches in Italy.
![](predella_peep_show.jpg)
Detail images:
![](predella_peep_show_detail1.jpg)
![](predella_peep_show_detail2.jpg)
![](predella_peep_show_detail3.jpg)
![](predella_peep_show_detail4.jpg)
![](predella_peep_show_detail5.jpg)
![](predella_peep_show_detail6.jpg)
![](predella_peep_show_detail7.jpg)
As the paintings evolved, many of the themes emerging in the pencil drawings created close to this time became evident and the characters became like inflatable, multi-limbed, india rubber people playing their part in a stage set.
![](nudge_wink.jpg)
![](once_bitten_twice_shy.jpg)
![](deep_frieze.jpg)
![](allure.jpg)