SCARCE!! NORMAN CATHERINE `NOW AND THEN - A SELECTION OF WORK BETWEEN 1968-2004` FIRST EDITION

Scarce Norman Catherine "Now and Then - A Selection of work between 1968 to 2004"

Now and Then highlights his works of fantastic and surreal semi-humans, all presented in vivid colour. Born in East London in 1949, Catherine had no formal arts training. A sign-writer for a while, he became a protege of artist Walter Battiss. Catherine's art career began in 1969 when he held his first solo exhibition, consisting of oil paintings on wood, bone, wire and an assortment of found objects.

Mixed media - This eclectic use of media has since become his trademark. Now and Then consists of some of the artists work with airbrush, oil, fibreglass sculptures, wood, bronzes and mixed media. It is the fibreglass sculptures for which he is best known. Vivid larger-than-life figures that dwarf the viewer, many of them are close to three metres tall.

My inspiration comes from music, movies, my dreams. My own experiences of being trapped, stitched up from accidents, have found their way into my work, Catherine told the Sunday Times in 2000. I'm just inventing another world of creatures and the human face.

Ashraf Jamal in the introduction to this monograph said, "Catherine is an artist who defies neat description in terms of iconography and medium. He is simultaneously Velcro and Teflon. Influences attach themselves to his work like dust particles. Yet he also shakes them off with equal ease, leaving the viewer with the raw visceral impact of his imagery, striking in a place where a laugh and a gasp are indistinguishable."