After a fire in the studio, in 1989, destroyed a large proportion of my work prior to this date, some 150 paintings and perhaps 3000 drawings, I compensated by finally getting to grips with my work organised using chance procedures which I had been developing, theoretically, since the early seventies, but for which I had not, up to this time, had courage enough to put into practice as the process required giving up the choice of all parameters to random selections from long lists of options for each step in the making of a piece of work.

Over the years I had developed a large collection of long lists of methods, tools and colour groups, techniques, dimensions etc, all numbered to facilitate selection by random numbers, generated, at this time, by throwing hexagrams with the coin method of the i-ching, an ancient Chinese oracle which was, co-incidentally, the inspiration for the development of binary mathematics. The works here displayed were made using various of the many methods chosen. They are the results of rigorous adherence to the main principle of this method of working, a journey completed, wherein none of the steps of the process could be skipped or ignored, whatever charming accidents might occur on the way and wherever they might lead!

In the meantime, tired of English attitudes towards the arts, I had a possibility to leave and to work in Holland making restoration work in Arnhem and later in Edam. Whilst busy with the Arnhem work, it was in the house of an old school friend who I had not seen in 20 or more years and who had tracked me down and invited me to come and stay while the work was in progress. He was a choreographer, Tony Thatcher, and he taught in a performance school in Arnhem, CNDO, and whilst working in his house I also had to go to the school on occasions. There, guarding the door, was a student who was busy writing texts on an electric typewriter. Every time I needed to go in she would scowl at me as I was disturbing her flow.

Later, I attended a 10 minute extract showing from a piece she was working on called “Styx” – I was mesmerised. When the work in the house was finished, my friend threw a party that coincided with my birthday and when she arrived we talked for hours and began a friendship, relationship and working partnership which is still, 25 odd years later, on-going!