Untitled (Hands) & Untitled (Head)

Sutcliffe studied at the University of Liverpool School of Art where he met and became a close friend of John Lennon. His links to Lennon led him to play bass guitar in the Beatles during the bandÂ’s formative years while he continued to study and produce art. These two works were selected as examples of the artist's key interests - exploring abstraction/ semi-abstraction and painterly technique. Both works are semi figurative and show the scraping and texturising techniques used in the abstract oils of the period. Hands is demonstrative of the artistÂ’s interest in colour and shows the pouring/splashing technique Sutcliffe used in a great many of his abstract works on paper. Head shows a heavy working of the paint layer to create a deliberately unresolved subject.