In the two decades since he first began his formal education as a painter, Stephen Farthing has worked in a great many rooms and adapted his procedures to the circumstances in which he found himself on each occasion, just as he drew inspiration from his surroundings as a fund of imagery and subject matter. Like many other artists, Farthing has acclimatised himself to each situation... READ THE FULL ESSAY > In many houses before television there used to be a 'dressing-up drawer', full of fancy dress outfits and discarded clothes to amuse bored children on wet afternoons or winter evenings. The drawer was an open sesame to the imagination - a box of tricks, a tombola, Father Christmas's sack. Then television arrived and the drawer was closed. The actors became the audience, information replaced imagination ... READ THE FULL ESSAY > Painted at a time when the British royal family is under constant attack, Stephen Farthing's new series of paintings serves as a reminder of the role of the monarchy in English history and of the veneration, fear and pity that monarchs have instilled. The timing of the series is crucial, as crucial as the problems of the Royal Family itself ... READ THE FULL ESSAY >