Irish-born artist Tim Mara received his training in Epson and Ewell School of Art, Wolverhampton Art College and the Royal College of Art, London, where he later became Professor of Printmaking and Head of the School of Fine Art. Seen by fellow printmakers as an outstanding technician, Mara himself saw technique only as a tool for expression, saying “in the hierarchy of fine art, printmaking is usually associated with craft skills – with technique. My work was always about the ideas, more than the medium”.*

Mara sought contemporary imagery that can be easily read and understood to document our time, but the message underlying it is not new. ‘Power Cuts Imminent’ can be read as a modern version of Velasquez’s famous portrait of the Spanish Royal Family in his studio, ‘Las Meninas’. The multiplicity of portraits or partial portraits of family members and colleagues is reminiscent of Velasquez, while the claustrophobic build-up of technical apparatus makes this utterly contemporary.

*From Cristopher Frayling “On the Staircase”, in ‘Tim Mara the Complete Prints’, London, 1998.