«Alpha and Omega»

Alpha and Omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. In the Book of Revelation the pair becomes a title, "the beginning and the end". I like that idea of everything from first to last packed into two letters, and it is the starting point of this street art canvas.

A woman with long platinum hair and a black cap tilts her head back, eyes closed, and licks the rim of a wine glass. She wears a black top and white jeans, a watch and a ring, yellow nails, and a car key hangs from her hand. Behind her the wall is all drips: pink, blue, orange and green running down the canvas, with loose green scribbles, a red euro sign, a dollar bill in the lower left and an outlined circle with a three-pointed star near the bottom. In the upper corners, angular faces with wide open eyes watch her in thick black line.

She is not in one piece. Strips of her neck, chest and hair slide sideways like a frozen screen, while the wine, the watch and the key stay sharp.

Picasso broke faces into angles in Les Demoiselles d'Avignon in 1907, and the faces in my corners borrow that logic. Jean-Michel Basquiat went from SAMO graffiti in New York in the late 1970s to canvases crowded with scribbles and money. Keith Haring drew in chalk on the black paper covering empty ad panels in the New York subway in the early 1980s. As an original pop art painting it is about contrast: I wanted a polished, glossy figure to stand against a wall that looks painted in a hurry, so this contemporary pop art sits between a fashion shoot and a back alley.

That clash makes it work as statement wall art: loud colour, a calm face, and a street art canvas that rewards a second look.

Most of my original paintings are already in private collections, but I paint originals to order in any size. To ask about this one, message me on Instagram or by email.