Pain, Wit and Gesture

The visual oxymoron of a whimsical and lyrical tendency combined with raw, almost brutal elements is the driving tension that gives Andrew Litten’s work impact. He is an expressionist painter and, although he had some formal training (evening drawing classes), one can’t help thinking that had he not later abandoned art school (reflecting on its claustrophobic and restrictive atmosphere), he may have been influenced by the far more commonplace irony and sensationalism that was typical of his generation of artists.

• Publisher