22 February 1969: He paints water again and again,finding new signs and symbols for it, and it becomes a gameBehind him lie seven years of fame. I had heard of him earlier when he was still at Bradford School of Art, and but it was in 1961 that he shot on to the art stage in that year’s Young Contemporaries show. His fame has spread since then. Exhibitions everywhere,high prices, prizes British and foreign, or a personality to be filmed and interviewed,photogenic with his blond hair and harmless circular spectacles.
So what is he now? An old master of contemporary art or still the enfant terrible who caused such headaches at the Royal College? The Whitworth Gallery in Manchester has from nowadays until March 15, what amounts to a retrospective showing of his paintings and prints - not a full-scale affair but very well selected and beautifully hung - but it doesn’t retort the question.
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Source: theguardian.com