As far back as I can remember I have always drawn and painted. I have always wondered about this as nobody in my family was artistic, neither were any of my friends. I don’t know why I started… or why I have never stopped.

At some point I realised that art is more than just representation… it’s a kind of a trip into your mind, and what you can see in there and how you can materialise it into a visual experience…

I can’t remember who wrote this but… “when you start working, everybody is in your studio - the past, your friends, your enemies, the art world, and above all, your own ideas - all are there. But, as you continue painting, they start leaving, one by one, and you are left completely alone. Then, if you're lucky, even you leave…”

Mishima wrote about the emotions of one of his fictional characters as being like a flag in the wind, blowing this way and that way… well, that’s me. I cannot paint simply what I see, it’s not enough, I have to paint what I feel, I have to tell a story, my paintings are an emotional trip, fuelled by memories of mainly unpleasant experiences. I guess they are a combination of figurative storytelling and abstract (non-representational) mark making…

I end up painting subjects that are symbolic and reflect how I feel. If I start a painting on Monday while feeling nervous but I wake up on Tuesday feeling okay, I can’t continue with that painting. Most of my paintings have 2, 3, or even 4 paintings beneath the top finished painting as my mood changes so I paint over paintings that no longer mean anything to me.

The paintings in this exhibition have all survived and mean more to me than I can say. Each painting tells a story, evokes a memory, or reflects a state of mind, they are not art for art’s sake, they are art for my sanity’s sake…

—John A Rowe