Curator Statement
This portrait of Judy still shows very strong Matisse influences and I’m very happy to acknowledge them. It’s really three paintings: a painting within a painting within a painting. The centrepiece is a simplified version of Judy in a kind of tropic Tahitian look, surrounded by that some orchids, some flowers, some blue butterflies, and then I painted the frame again with more and more flowers. I first went to Tahiti when I was in my early 20s and always the feeling of the South Pacific is, I hope to convey in these kinds of decorative works. They pay respect, I hope, to Matisse and to Gauguin and to everybody, to all the artists who in fact have roamed those faraway places and been absolutely overwhelmed by the joy and the thrill of and the sensuality of flowers and the feeling of the tropics.
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