LONDON, UK.- The Drawing Gallery is pleased to present Drawings from The Iliad & The Odyssey by the British artist Paul Thomas 31st January – 25th February 2005. The drawings on display form part of a series that explore the Iliad and the Odyssey. The stories, like the drawings are full of moments of indecision, transformed into certain action. The classical world offers paradigms of behaviour that are there to be challenged; as we assimilate their values we develop avenues of speculative thought and imaginative interpretation. The drawings seek inventive solutions to pictorial problems, and play with the unfolding narratives of Homer whilst acknowledging the literary masterpiece of Joyce. Individually, the drawings form markers in the narrative, tackling a feast of associations from the personal to the political. Each piece proposes a visual challenge; often the solutions are layered in both their language and references.

An artist’s book, published to coincide with this exhibition, and on show at the gallery contains the sequential narrative of the drawings with an accompanying text.

Paul Thomas (b1951) studied at Winchester School of Art (1970-73) and the Royal College of Art (1974-77). He was Cheltenham Fellow in Painting (1977-78) and has recently returned from a Drawing Residency at the National Art School, Sydney (2004).