In the Face of It is part of a series of three Artists' Books that represent three stages of an artistic journey in the years 1995-2006 exploring the dialectic of mark, word and image. A recurrent theme in each is that of surprise. In The Face of It recounts an unexpected shift in 1995 from the earlier visual poetry in The Poetry of It (2013), into pictorial art itself. In works like Another Rilke, a series of figurative prints termed 'Art Noir' begun in pursuit of self-knowledge became a vehicle for the maker's self-identification as an artist and conception of such works as portraiture. The three books show how working through these stages in visual art was a condition for the spacial writing and reading of both sound and silence in my it to you (2013), The Book of It (2010) as well as In The Face of It (2013).

Author Biography

John McGreal was born of working-class parents into a post-war London Irish culture, which placed a high value on education and the written word. His subsequent professional experience as an Academic Sociologist, Translator, Psychoanalytic Counsellor, Artist and Art Tutor - as well as periods of unemployment - has informed all of his books.