Brian Barclay

As a figurative painter working mostly in oils I like to reflect upon and draw from the western figurative tradition, sometimes quoting past masters and introducing their imagery into odd and ambiguous situations in peculiar settings that have an evocative appeal for me. Such capriccios are arrived at by a free associative approach in a state of reverie. These are for me both nostalgic and surreal, suggestive of various possible meanings rather than coming with some fixed message or narrative. I am preoccupied with capturing light and also something of the transformative power of memory and reflection in discovering some new and unsuspected magic in the mundane and everyday, and not just in the obvious resonances of myth and legend that may insinuate themselves into the dreamscape.