Signed, titled and dated on the reverse
This painting was produced as part of a series in the lead up to the second Iraq war. The series focuses on naturalistic idylls , which could be considered as a cathartic escape from the anguish caused by current international affairs. It could also be seen as an acknowledgement of the limited ability for paintings to visually recount current political affairs.
In From Kitchen-Sink to Shangri-La (Lund Humphries, 2007), James Hyman cites Greaves in a description of the context of the Shangri-La paintings, and more specifically the compositional elements of Shangri-La (Exotic Bird) (2003):
Shangri-La paintings were done as a protective shield against the utterly depressing news of war and the politicians games of negation.' Greaves explains elsewhere, 'I've often said that the artist preserves a thick strata of naiveté in the mind in order to take clues from wherever they come this isn't to be confused with that awful immaturity of attitudes to life which many artists irritatingly express continuously (which is merely static, inert monomania)In two small, elegant paintings, Shangri-La (Exotic Bird) (2003) and Shangri-La (Two Exotic Birds) (2002), there is an enjoyment in the flow of line as well as precision. In Shangri-La (Exotic Bird), an extended line from top to bottom helps create a space in which the artist places a circle; at once representational and abstract, the lines trace the beak, neck and eye of a bird as well as being quite simply two lines and a circle. (pp.159 - 160)
History
Line and Colour. James Hyman Gallery, London, 3 December 2004 - 21 January 2005.
Literature
Line and Colour: Contemporary Paintings, Drawings and Prints, James Hyman Gallery, London, 2004, illustrated (un-numbered).
James Hyman, Derrick Greaves:From Kitchen Sink to Shangri-La, Lund Humphries, London 2007, illustrated p.159.