Collector's Choice

David Hockney Dark Mist. I have some memories of Los Angeles that line up emotionally with this picture. Faded, bruised, dirty, unclear. So much in that city is unclear; the people's intentions, visibilty, and in this picture the same terrifying uncertainty, vaguely shaped like hopes and dreams.

John Martin's Creation of Light is a stone cold sci-fi classic (if you see the work of the bible as science fiction). I love pictures that are brave enough to capture such events and reimagine a whole sublime world, the bible is such a creative work and this perfectly projects it’s breathtaking ambitions.

I’ve chosen Ceri Richards' Shadow in a Room because it feels so familiar to me, as though it contains parts of my life or feelings in it. Like an emotional Dorian Grey. I can’t say how, but it definitely belongs on my list.

I absolutely love the Scottish colourists and I feel like Karen Keogh could be good friends with that movement. Every house would look like those in Mezzogiorno in my fantasy town planning application.

Helen Jones's Untitled also appealed because I feel that having pictures of clouds on your walls is the same as having a plant in the room that doesn’t die.

I love the inky sky in Katsunori Hamanishi's Fall. It almost looks like film grain that’s been pierced with cinder from a weeping willow. This picture makes the back of my neck ache just looking at it, which reminds me of craning up at the Lewes fireworks. I grew up in Lewes, near Brighton, so have a weird and profound love for pyro, and this picture satisfies me enormously. 

There’s also something very pleasing about Earth Glyphs and Sun by GW Bot - like the rare occasion when you see someone who has beautiful handwriting that’s also completely legible. I guess lots of people communicate in glyphs these days with emojis, but it’s funny that that’s not seen as a very intellectual.

I love Joerg Ortner's Tholos 1 because it makes me feel safe but at the same time completely disorientated. A new duality for me. Cypress trees also give me goosebumps because they feel like they belong to another planet with a different set of physics!

And finally, I chose Craigie Aitchison's Crucifix and Mountain because it looks like an Andy Warhol, and although I like Andy Warhol, I can’t seem to separate the man from the art so I haven’t selected him. I like this picture because it captures the loneliness of dying and how nature and the world just keeps on keeping on around you, even if you are the son of god, which for me is the magic question in this picture - what makes me think it’s christ?