Andrew Cranston

Cranston is a storyteller of sorts, without a clear story to tell. His work is seductive in terms of its use of narrative and humour, but it is the humour of Samuel Beckett or Buster Keaton, always touching on the strangeness and pathos of ordinary life. Often working directly onto hardback book covers his work is not pre-conceived but emerges through the manipulation of materials — paint, varnish, collage — and the suggestions that this activity provokes, layering and re-working the images until something essential coalesces.