Contemporary satellites and classical sailing ships orbit the paintings' spatial planes seeming to seek, capture and condense a vertical slice of ancient and modern histories and geographies, in one new map form. The artist cartographer is the messenger, psychic and prankster - at one moment clearly naming clear markers of landscape and history, then in the next, disrupting expectations to tease and confound the human desire to decipher and make meaning.

These highly lacquered paintings glow with a luminosity built up through layer on layer of varnish and acrylic. Mortimer's exquisitely rendered titles, place names and images of fantastical figures, creatures, plants, buildings and machines create a dense montage of sign and symbol. The viewer is drawn in to the detail, to grasp and decode but there is too much to take in at once; details reveal themselves over time rewarding careful viewing.

We apologise that, (as with many photographs of paintings, the images do not do the works justice and do not capture their luminosity.

More information about Mortimer can be found on his artist page on this website.