The paintings of Al Saralis reflect the classical beauty of the human figure. The
dramatic use of light, coupled with the directness of the pose, results in
images that are powerful and sometimes confrontational, while also echoing the
fragility and vulnerability of contemporary man.
Al is a professional
painter and a teacher of Fine Art. He was born and brought up in South Wales
and now lives and works in Hampshire and has exhibited extensively over recent
years and has been involved in a number of group and one-man exhibitions. Since his early life drawing sessions at Art College, the
human figure has always been Al's main source of inspiration. This fascination of the form, structure
and movement of the figure continues to be central to Al’s work.
The paintings usually consist of a single figure which
is stripped of any narrative reference. Recent works have included a series of
paintings where the figure has been fragmented or left incomplete. These were
in part inspired by a trip to Florence where Al saw the unfinished ‘Prigioni’
sculptures of Michelangelo.
