British artist, Cain, creates beautiful and intriguing art imagery by painting carefully composed figures on antique book pages. Any space between the figures exposes a background, which gives them context and narrative.
Books only come alive when they are read. The passing of time and trends will shape a reader’s interpretation of a book. These are often reflected as annotations that a reader leaves behind. Instead of an annotation Cain interprets and paints a contemporary presence of the reader.
Cain's art attempts to show compositions that radiate a sense of interaction between the narrative and the reader's image. The subjects are turned away from the observer, seemingly engaged in the narrative, which remains magically elusive. As time continues to pass, the contemporary presence of the reader will age along with the book. Interestingly, this ageing will be observed by future viewers of the painting.
