Anthony Lawrence

My work at present is primarily inspired by Dante's Divine Comedy. This journey began many years ago and these pictures are the first of the series to be seen in public. The Dante paintings bring together all my artistic interests: life painting, landscape, still life, and portraiture.

Within my Dante cannon I combine and reinterpret these traditional genres in my own way and as a product of the age I live in. I like to think that my art asks questions, questions regarding myself; emotionally, intellectually and technically. Through questioning I hope to initiate a kind of dialogue with the viewer. I try to imbue my work with a timeless quality using traditional techniques and materials in my own modern way. Good art stirs memories of what we already know but have forgotten. Within this sense, you could call it a kind of stimulation process.

I wake up in the morning and, as have countless people before me, I see the magnificent world around me; there is nothing any artist can do to compete with that. Life then, is my main influence.

I was born in 1951 in Cambridge, England. My interest in art was awakened when, as a small child, I was taken to a Goya exhibition in London. I started painting seriously at the age of 14. I attended St Martin?s School of Art, London (1969-70) and The Ruskin School of Drawing, Oxford (1971-74).

I have been exhibiting since 1972 in both group and one-man exhibitions. One-man shows have taken place in Belgium (including The British Council in Brussels and the Huis-Hellemans in Edegem), in Washington D.C. at the Whetherholt Gallery and in the U.K. (including Broadgate, Keiran Cross and The Park Gallery in Connaught Street).

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