Jonathan Yeo

Proportional Representation 2001

Oil on canvas
295 x 75 cm

"... The eyes stare with a slightly enraptured quality. It is a portrait that acknowledges a gulf between Blair and the artist. Hung in provocative juxtaposition with the conventional paintings of two more modest and blokish men, Blair's painting is an ironic icon.

What makes Yeo a model for election artists is his sense of the bigger picture. By adopting a triptych, he comments on the leaders' relationships; by placing Blair centre stage, he stresses the separateness of the inevitable winner. Together the portraits analyse history in the making ..."

Jonathan Jones 2001