The title 'Fragile Nostalgia' came out of a conversation with a great friend who introduced me to the Chinese poet Xu Zhimo, both ex graduates of Cambridge though many years apart. Xu's poem 'Taking Leave of Cambridge Again', speaks softly of memories.
In these latest paintings, 'Fragile Nostalgia' represents moments of looking, scrutinising and possibly questioning something that has captured my eye. There is something very intriguing about the way people look. They look not only with their eyes, but their quizzical stance is rather intriguing to me as well.
I have always painted the non-event in the everyday, recalling images in a split second. I am the neutral observer, allowing a momentary glance to be suspended and brought to the canvas. I'm bringing to life the inconsequential and non-memorable. What is glimpsed as a snapshot, be it a colour, a shape or a structure, is recalled in a split second and becomes suspended in time.
These paintings are about looking, how we look, one's posture and the scrutiny of me the observing observer.
Fragile Nostalgia 4 oil on panel painted frame 24cm x 18cm 2026 Private Collection
Fragile Nostalgia 15 oil on panel 24cm x 18cm 2026
Fragile Nostalgia 15A oil on canvas 20cm x 25cm 2025
