(i) Mondrian in his Paris studio(ii) Munch in his studio(iii) Tatlin in his studio(iv) Cezanne(v) James Ensor seated in front of 'Christ's Entry into Brussels' (vi) Chris Burden (Kick Piece)(vii) Otto Dix in his studio(viii) Bruce Nauman

Alan Brooks’s delicate pencil portraits depict artists in their studios. Every image is drawn from a photograph, and imbued with rich human feeling through Brooks’s nuanced treatment of light, shade and imperfection. As the artist explains of his drawings, ‘Because they’re all mediated through old photos and postcards, which are often worn or battered, the blemishes come through in the drawing giving the image another layer of meaning. I make them with a type of magnifying glass called an Optivisor; it slips over your head like the type conservators use.’ Piet Mondrian’s proud stance among his geometric creations situates him as a master of modernity, evoking a life in glamorous step with his avant-garde artistic vision; James Ensor plays his organ like an operatic phantom beneath his 1889 masterpiece Christ’s Triumphant Entry Into Brussels. Otto Dix, Bruce Nauman, Paul Cézanne, Chris Burden, Edvard Munch and Vladimir Tatlin each receive similarly insightful treatment. Through his sensitive archival approach, Brooks explores the layered narratives of art history and the making of artists into celebrities.