Paint and Longing

The English artist, John Alexander Parks, long resident in New York, has painted his homeland with the longing eyes of an exile over more than three decades. His approach to painting has evolved with the years from an intense realism to a highly creative and very painterly recreation of his world. In his recent work he has discarded the brush altogether, and instead applies the paint directly with his hands. "If my work grows out of some desire to regain the world of my childhood," he says, "then returning to this childish means of painting seems more than appropriate." The resulting pictures, however, are anything but childish. With their rich surfaces and brilliant light they prepresent the clear and resolved grasp of a master painter who is approaching the height of his powers.

In his introduction Tim Parks, the artist's brother and a widely regarded writer and translator, contemplates the mysterious and ultimately revelatory experience of discoveriing the art of a sibling.