‘The Joke’ was painted during the early part of 2001 for an exhibition I was to participate in during the May of that year. From the time of my graduation, as an illustration student at Anglia Ruskin University in 1994, up until 2001 I was a caretaker/cleaner, working early mornings and late evenings a schedule which freed up daylight hours so I could paint (it is a long story but I did very little painting during my illustration course). With each image I attempted I would set myself a number of challenges and would persevere with the painting until I either accomplished what I set out to do or decided I could do know better. Most early paintings took many months to complete as I wrestled with my painful limitations. I was endeavouring to push back those limitations, waiting for and trying to bring about those happy accidents that would sign post me towards the next direction I should follow. It was really, creatively, both a very frustrating and exciting time. As a guide I would often just have a sense of what I wanted and needed to do with the painful knowledge that I possessed neither the skill nor the wherewithal to realise it. I was patient, spent much time reflecting, sort advice and simply grafted until I blundered into successful outcomes.
Over the years the way I work, and the media I work with, may have changed but my working processes have changed very little, relying as I still do, on chance and happenstance -looking for those unexpected consequences to guide my direction to a successful outcome. What has changed, however, is that my work does not now take so long to realise and that is down to experience. I have banked so many mistakes and solved so many problems (and in the process gained a degree of skill) that for the most part the process is a lot quicker.
The tasks I set myself for this painting, if memory serves correctly, was; task 1, to paint faces that portrayed humour which, task 2, I hoped, would initiate a genuinely humorous response from the viewer in return. I will let you be the judge as to whether I have succeeded or not. The painting sold and I have sold many prints of the image since.
The Joke (2001) Acrylic. 36.5 x 24 cm. Sold. Prints available