Question: What is your favorite piece of artwork?

Christopher Dean answered on 12 Jan 2021:

What a good question! There are a couple of contenders. I’ve always loved Edward Hopper, in particular his studies of light in rooms. His painting “Sun in an Empty Room” is one of my all time favourites. It’s such a simple painting, but to me it says a lot about how we see space and light and it also gives me a feeling of nostalgia.

I’m also a fan of Stanley Donwood, who does the art for the band Radiohead. He has a series of drawings depicting Holloways, which are sunken paths where trees almost make a tunnel over the path. I find them really captivating; there’s a little bit of me that’s sort of scared by them, probably going back to when I was a kid exploring the English countryside. They always seemed magical and endless, and I think he does a great job of replicating that feeling.

On a ligher note, one of my other favourite artists is Ray Troll, an Alaskan guy who does paintings/drawings of fish and palaeontology! My girlfriend got me an amazing print of his showing ammonites from a location I visited for my PhD fieldwork for my 30th Birthday, so he earns a spot on this list!