Quirk

Quirk
Originally uploaded by *A*L*I*.

I've never had my portrait drawn before so I was a bit hesitant at first, when I was asked. But I'm glad I did. Turned out to be a very unusually rewarding experience.

Phoebe Boswell first 'drew' me in a three hour session which was uncomfortably engaging, she told me it was for her next show. I hadn't seen the painted version until the opening night at Al Riwaq Art Gallery a couple of nights ago.

So it was an odd feeling to encounter your painted self. As a representation Phoebe has done a brilliant job. Her portraits always have this exaggerated, surreal almost comic sensation to them. I loved my painting and it makes me smile when I see it, and I'm glad that, by the response we gauged at the opening, that others did too.

Phoebe's show at Al Riwaq also features installation, video screening of the film 'Faces' – which I helped make – and the original drawn portraits featured in the book. So I suggest you go down there and have a walk around, because you're likely to like it. It’s on until the 11th.

As I tried to explain in my recent column, people can be a bit suspicious of portraits, for their own reasons. How would you see it?