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Colin Self is widely regarded as one of Britain's leading painters. The Norfolk-born artist is now showcasing a collection of his work in a new exhibition at the Norwich Theatre Royal from Wednesday, 2 April until Wednesday, 28 May, 2008.

The show offers visitors a unique opportunity to see Self's innovative Clown Heads series, a collection of work much-loved by David Hockey. Also on view will be The Circus and Circus On Cartons series which was inspired by drawings from his young daughters.

Circus on paper

"When our twin daughters were about one, they would scribble on paper. I'd see shapes, imagine objects in the shapes and then I'd draw them out. The majority of images seemed to be a man or a woman on a horse and that led to circuses," said Colin Self.

"Out of that grew the whole circus series that occupied me in one way or another for nearly a decade.

A child's inspiration started the series

"I think it started in a light-hearted way with the children, but it reached a point when Emily thought she'd help on a clown drawing of mine - The Clown With The Violin And Three Budgies - and her little finger prints are all running down the clown's hat.

"At that point I said, 'Look you can do your own now and dad will do his own pictures' – I think it's nice, I left the marks on," he added.

There are more than 100 pictures in the Circus series, with the show at the Theatre Royal featuring 16.

"The Clown Heads and The Circus were basically straight drawings with sometimes bits of added collage or glitter," said Colin Self.

"When those were having a bit of a fallow patch and I felt I wasn't getting fresh life in my mind to keep on doing them, I started spraying car-paint into empty cereal cartons. Then I would have a stub of pencil and draw down into the carton.

"I'd see in my mind what I was drawing, but I couldn't see it physically. Then when the whole thing was done I'd flatten the carton out, I'd open it up and see what I'd got. That third series become know as the Circus On Cartons," he added.

Targetfollow

The Colin Self exhibition is one of the first collaborations between the theatre and property developers Targetfollow to encourage and support art within local communities and bring local artists to a wider audience.

Targetfollow also has a growing art collection which is located in offices across the country and features works by established Norfolk artists such as Colin Self andÌý Edward Seago, as well as up-and-coming local artists such as Brigitte Hague, Fiona Roberts and Michael Fenton.Ìý

"We were particularly interested in choosing Colin to open the new exhibition space since Colin's original and inspiring Clown and Circus series tie in particularly well with the principles of the theatre" said Antonia Kiki of Targetfollow.

Something like Patrick Proctor (detail)

"Furthermore, Colin is one of the most prominent Norfolk artists who have helped bring life back into the resurgent Norfolk art scene and we are delighted that he has agreed to open the show.

"I'm certain visitors to the exhibition will find the works as fascinating as we do," she added.

Pop Art

One of the pioneers of Pop Art, Colin was born in Norwich in 1941 and went to the Norwich School Of Art before studying at the famous Slade School in the 1960s. It was here he got to know artists David Hockney and Peter Blake.

Around 30 years ago, he decided to turn his back on London and came home to Norfolk and one of his main artistic influences – the county's changing landscapes.

The Circus series was created throughout the 1990s and gave Colin a great sense of freedom in his work.

"It gave me freedom to draw anything. The inspiration was, I suppose, nothing. I'd draw away and never quite know what the next line was going to do," said Colin.

"There was a big excuse at the end. If somebody said, 'That's a load of rubbish, how on earth have you done that,' – I'd say, 'We'll he's a clown,' so it was somehow legitimised by the looseness of the whole thing.

"The odd thing was, I think that Andy Warhol in inventing the idea of putting oil paint through a photographic screen became the vehicle for him, apart from Henri Matisse, to become the greatest colourist in the 20th century.

"His colours were unbelievable as he freed himself up from draughtsmanship. I think in the Clown Heads, I think that they were clowns just freed me up from straight, grammatically correct draughtsmanship," he added.

Open Studios project

Colin Self will also be taking part in the Norwich Open Studio project from Saturday, 17 May, to Sunday, 1 June.

"I'm going to be doing some readings in St Gregory's Church, Norwich. I saw it as a chance to present some of my favourite pieces of literature and read them alongside some of my own poem," said Colin.

Organised by the Norfolk And Norwich Festival 2008 the event is a celebration of Norfolk artistic energy, diversity and ambition and this year features 254 artists, making it one of the biggest of its type in the UK.