SmithField Gallery Review Clash, July 2007

Musicians that paint aren't too thin on the ground but occasionally an artist's self wrought album art so compliments the beauty of the records contained inside that the artist almost defines their generation. John Squire, formerly of Manchester's Stone Roses would effortlessly stride into such a pantheon of creativity.

Now well past a decade since the Roses' a996 Split and the Seahorses rode nowhere, Squire has been immersed in the studio which he completely built from the floors to the roof.

Speaking of his new work Squire said: “This room has become the centre of my universe, an inspirational place. I've felt the need to create for as long as I can remember. That desire for an intense, obsessive relationship with a piece of work as it's willed into being.”

“When I got into punk, Jamie Reid's artwork for The Sex Pistols and The Clash's paint splattered clothes inspired my own creations and drew me towards Pop Art and Abstract Expressionism. I was a big fan of Jesus and Mary Chain and had a hallucinogenic epiphany listening to them. They were the aural of equivalents of Jackson Pollock's drip paintings. 'Never Understand' and Autumn Rhythm were fused, I started to write proper songs and paint clothes, guitars, drums and record sleeves for the band. Twenty years on I'm still painting, learning and finding new ways to create.”

“As the work has progressed the background and foreground have become more interchangeable. The pathways in the surface texture can describe forms and also serve as a backdrop to the island and peninsulas crossing above.”