Martin Gayford is an artist who brings an abstract quality to his work, despite the subject matter being of figures and places. “Sometimes the abstract element is quite apparent, sometimes not at all, but it’s always there,” he says of the collage-based approach to his paintings. “I allow myself very few indulgences, so that what remains in my work is as unique as I can make it.”
Much of his work addresses the processes of communication and of painting itself. “When I’ve had time to absorb a finished work, I feel like I’ve invented somebody or something new – an uncle, street or event from another time or place.”