Another side

John Vlismas is also an accomplished artist, and was mentored by painter and printmaker Robert Hodgins before Hodgins’s death in 2010.

This painting, You didn’t say goodbye, from Vlismas’s most recent exhibition, was sold before the show opened. It is a work that has great meaning for Vlismas.

“It’s what life feels like without Robert Hodgins. The last time I saw him in hospital, our visit was interrupted. We didn’t say goodbye that day, and I never saw him again,” he says. “The friendship was brief, we only knew each other for two years, but he was one of the greatest magicians I’ve ever met.

“This painting encapsulates what I believe he tried to teach me: to be alert as a painting unfolds, and recognise the moment when just enough painting has been done. My favourite works of his are monochromatic and convey profound emotion with minimal line.

“This painting is my goodbye to him.”