I ampeless situations, environments where the situations are
hazardous, where the outside world serves firstly as a back-drop to feats of outstanding endeavour and secondly threatens to engulf the protagonists. The characters are malcontents, unable to vocalise their emotions they become isolated but interested in the patterns and consequences of behaviour, those moments when our guard is down and we are vulnerable to criticism and exposure. The lack of interaction and singularity of the figures in my work is significant as it suggests a sense of dislocation, of an inability to be accepted. These are alienated white collar workers thrust into stressful and potentially hoshare their unpleasant experiences with their colleagues. As my work has developed images from cinema and literature are increasingly important. Principally this has been Carol Reeds', ‘The Third Man', ‘The Man Between', and ‘Odd Man Out' as well as Welles' ‘A Touch of Evil' and ‘The Trial.' The books of James Ellroy have also been important notably ‘American Tabloid' and‘The Cold Six Thousand'. The idea of a loner, and outsider fighting impossible odds (but more as a fantasy than actually being capable of bravura) is filtered through the experience of a drone, a middle income, middle management worker.

Sam Dargan, November 2004