Alex Leith – författare

In 2007 Romany Mark Bruce, Irish-born lawyer and self-taught artist, was confronted by a stranger while walking his dog in Kemptown, Brighton. ‘I want a word with you,’ said the mysterious fellow, and walked off, without further explanation. Two days later, Romany received a follow-up email: would he consider mocking up a design for an AIDS Memorial statue, to be erected in the south-coast city? An open-call competition was underway:there were ten days left to enter. Having lost his dearest friend to the deadly virus, Romany – by then predominantly a painter, though with ten years sculpting experience behind him – wasted no time in making a decision, and making up a design. The rest is history, and his AIDS Memorial, dedicated to Paul Tay, is a poignant landmark much loved by Brighton residents. This monograph explores the life choices which have informed Romany’s artistic pathway, and analyses the sculptural techniques he employs in his thriving painting practice. Romany is, in his own words, ‘a sculptor who paints’; his work has been exhibited internationally, from France to Australia.

Susan Ryder has long been one of the country’s leading portrait painters. A member of the New English Arts Club and past vicepresident of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters, she has painted many notable sitters including Queen Elizabeth II, Diana, Princess of Wales and many more.Inspired by the work of Edouard Vuillard and the teaching of Bernard Dunstan, she is still passionately in love with lamplight, to her it is more thrilling than the most beautiful sunset. Setting her scene before starting an interior can take time, moving a lamp a fraction, draping a jacket over a chair or dribbling wine into a glass to just the right level, the upright stem of a glass is her passion too.