Peter Thomson’s paintings present us with glimpses of a world which is strange and ethereal yet at the same time consistent and credible, a world where Leaf Painters have evidently plied their ancient craft for centuries where the Dancers in the Red Light are a popular spectacle for all the family on a cold winter day. His gaunt figures go about their lives with seriousness; their emotional intensity heightening the air of mystery. Why are the two women examining a series of scorpions? Why is the man who cut the grooves so pleased ? What is going to happen to the quiet couple sitting in the gallery?

It is Thomson’s skill as a painter that draws us into this richly coloured and detailed fantasy but it is the scope and epth of his imagination that makes us want to linger there, eager to witness the miraculous manifestation that is surely about to take place and hoping too, perhaps, that we are looking not at some other world but as at a half-hidden aspect that, with the help of an artist, can be glimpsed with our own.

Gregory Goddard.