Always Afternoon

‘Your paintings dominate my house, are a source of constant joy to me, and are jaw dropping to the people who visit.’

David Stevens Writer/Director Oscar and Emmy Award Nominee

In 1988 David Stevens directed a film called Always Afternoon, which was set in Australia during the First World War. He invited me to observe the making of it, and what captured my attention was the actors waiting off-set, relaxing in the sun, some sleeping, on a spectacularly beautiful coastline.

Many of these paintings possess a meditative quality. Still. Silent. Dreamlike.  It is this quality which attracted James Wolfensohn, the former President of The World Bank, to the series. When meeting him in his New York office, I was struck by the fact that his desk was facing away from a jaw dropping view of the Manhattan skyline. Instead he faced a large painting from this series, and remarked that when he felt stressed he simply put down his papers and gazed at the painting for a minute or two. It meant so much to me to hear him say that it had the most calming effect on him.