Highly respected cow painter, John Marshall has been humorously painting these lovable bovine beasts for 15 years now and his latest 2010 exhibition 'The Candy Cow Show' at the Curwen & New Academy offers a delectable pick and mix.

'Bonbon', 'Sherbert Pip', 'Whortleberry Waffle' and 'Sundae Flake' cheer us up at the end of the winter months with their sense of lightness and sugar-coated fun.

They clearly show the key to John's success. We see him artfully mixing his excellent draftsmanship with wit and humour. His cows are undoubtedly beautifully painted - 'Butterfinger' and 'Candy Flag', for example, deftly display his fine technical ability and highly admired portraiture skills. But we also see his irreverence - he just doesn't take his subject too seriously. He poses them in front of funky wallpaper or magenta pinks, gives them a slight of head or a bemused expression. He has fun with them and injects humanity and a wry sensitivity and respect. They make us smile and we enjoy them for the varied and vibrant personalities that they become.

And this lot more than most. Gone are last year's somber and dramatic experimentation with light and shade. These were a bold exploration into the old skills of portraiture but with a change of the season we see a lightness return in all it's bubblegum wrapped glory. 'Bottle Pop', 'Bonbon' and 'Bubbalow'. 'Skittle', 'Whopper' and 'Double Bubble' - it's hard not to smile at this latest bunch.

Jane Wheeler, Artists Agent