Public Service Party Series 2013 
Acrylic on canvas 101 x 76 cm (40'' x 30'')

Evolution of painting 'Departmental Party 5.04'

... shows the progress of this painting over stages up to completion, as a short slide show >>>

Artist's Statement for 'Public Service Series' 2013

Picture
Public Service Series - Departmental Party 5 1986 Sketch, Graphite on paper 30 x 21 cm (11.5" x 8.5").
The inspiration and the title for this Series is the Public Service where all the participants are behaving in the timeless and characteristic ways familiar to many people in any large bureaucratic environment.
The paintings in this ‘Public Service Series’ - Departmental Party #1, #2, #3, and #4’, are based on my observations and experiences in the public service in the 1980’s. A drawing sketched at that time was developed into the first of this series of four paintings (See Inset).
These figurative paintings progress from recognizable figures, images and symbols and go through the process of abstraction.
The original representational image (#1) has evolved into the other images (#2, #3, and #4) by exploring the development of symbols and the methods of representing those symbols.
Across the Series, parts of each picture change and depending on the observer, the emotion engendered by the subsequent picture may also change.
However, even in the last painting the raw human emotion remains!