In 1986, when Barry Smylie wrote to tell me about his work, he mentioned that he had once been studio assistant to both John Snow and Maxwell Bates. I have always admired John Snow’s prints and once considered doing a show of Bates’ unknown “classical” series, so this news stirred my interest. I was not disappointed. Smylie’s lithographs turned out to be an unusual combination of remembered, found, and original images and Smylie himself turned out to be a lively thinker; the fresh quality of his thought is distilled in his work. He will do many more prints and we can look forward to them with anticipation.

Joan Murray