Coney Island

In making this series of paintings I was inspired by a text of Van Morrison, who muses in a spoken ballad about the trips he made in his youth to the coast of Coney Island, in County Down, Northern Ireland. They are very pleasant memories and the song ends with the words:

wouldn’t it be great

if it was like this

all the time

Although Coney Island is real, it is also a special place in my imagination. A place where you would like to go to and would actually want to stay. On the island I went exploring and found a paradise of flora. I dived to the seabed searching for rare corals and strolled along the beautifully coloured, waving reeds. This is all possible on this island. And lying on my back, beneath the floating cloudy skies, with a straw in my mouth, I suddenly thought of another song: A perfect day from Lou Reed. It is so good to be on Coney Island that I invite you to join me in this fantastic world.