I think it is true to say that expressionism in painting continues to find its fragmented pathway through the present because of its unique evocative quality and because the painterly gaze is an entity in its own right. By this I mean that expressionism is closely linked to poetry which is also directly evocative of sense recall in a manner which is best described as visceral/neurological. If we couple this with the capacity of painting to carry symbolic remnants, the very action of painting also carries kinaesthetic reminders of what might be termed the generic child- by this I simply mean early experience coded in sensate form and then structured into responses; there are quite strong neuro biological arguments (Antonio Damascio for example in Joy, Sorrow and the Feeling Brain) which link emotional response to reflex networks laid down early in development.

Though Expressionism has been questioned both politically as a historical partner to fascism and economically as generating a mystified postmodenist Art work which simply bolsters the commodity market - there is, nonetheless a magic and an attractiveness to the application of paint to canvas or paper which is truly compelling for both viewer and painter. Personally I find this latter quality far outweighs any critique of the style and the tradition of expressionism and intend to continue with the huge challenge of exploring and developing my abilities with the medium.