'There is another kind of authority that Rowlett’s paintings have to have; one that links the developing series of … paintings to everything that he has ever done: the authority of work. The deep moulded, carved and scraped surfaces of his paintings are a record of the physical work that comes with the creative dance before the subject, and the mental and emotional effort then needed to bring it into his imaginative self, before being projected back into the image before him. ‘I feel as though I am acting as the momentary focus, the subject comes from out there, and then it goes out again, it’s instinctive, but also calculating. When I am painting in nature I am twice as good as I really am.' (Robert Hewison)