David Walliams<\/strong>, of all people) and
it was all too much and I had to leave.<\/p>\n
“Mummy,” said a small child with
crisp, angelic gold ringlets bearing aloft a
blue ribbon, “That man is
crying”.<\/p>\n
Blake’s paintings, with their
characteristic loose, expressive style
– fluid washes of watercolour and ink
contained by haphazard spidery cages of
scratchy black ink somehow conspiring to be
more life-accurate than anything
photorealism could ever offer –
capture and reflect simple happiness and
freedom.<\/p>\n
I don’t want to use words like
“innocence”, because I
don’t like its implications of
fetishising a lack of knowledge.\u00a0
Blake’s paintings are very canny;
their veneer of simplicity disguising a
great depth of self-awareness and knowledge
of the subject.<\/p>\n
The young girl showing the big wolf her
painting isn’t afraid of the big
wolf.\u00a0 The big wolf likes her painting,
and looms in front of her with giant,
masonry-nail fangs bared in an appreciative
grin.\u00a0 She has nothing to fear from her
playmate, however, because she is brave and
has made friends with something that others
would find terrifying and avoid.<\/p>\n
The young woman in her hospital room is
finding joy in feeding the birds.\u00a0 The
birds don’t know why she’s in
hospital, or of her own difficulties with
food; they just like seeds and she’s
put some out for them.<\/p>\n
I bought a copy of
The Boy In The Dress<\/strong> on the way
home.\u00a0 An entire exhibition of mostly
women, magic and birds and I end up with a
book about a boy who likes to wear
dresses.\u00a0 That’s top marketing,
that.<\/p>\n
I’ll let you know how it
is.<\/p>\n
The
Quentin Blake: Drawn By Hand<\/strong>
exhibition closed in mid-May, but you
can still check out the
following:<\/p>\n