Gavin Semple has nurtured a fascination for the magical image since early childhood, when the influence of premonitory dreams and the lurid illustrations of horror comics conspired to convince him of the existence of, if not better, at least far more interesting worlds beyond the present, and the human. He produced a small number of paintings, drawings and collages - now mostly lost or destroyed - between 1980 and 1985, during a period of investigation of methods of consciousness change, at which time a survey of contemporary occult literature left him with a distrust of mystery schools and the determination to conceive a purely personal method of sorcery. Contact with the work of Austin Spare in 1983 led to a deepening preoccupation, and, after an initial phase of research, to the founding of Fulgur with Mr. Robert Ansell in 1992 as a 'propaganda vehicle' for the artist; by a similar route he entered into fruitful collaboration with several modern practitioners of the magic arts. A monograph entitled Zos-Kia: An Introductory Essay on the Art and Sorcery of Austin Osman Spare was published in 1995, and is now a highly-prized collector's item; his research continues and a biography of Zos is promised. Other writings include Study for a portrait of Frank Letchford, a personal memoir of Spare's friend, collector and biographer, and The First Song of Qayin, described as 'a missal of the non-dual Wytanic mysteries', which are to be published.

Semple's impulse to paint was rekindled, with the encouragement of his beloved Astrid Bauer, some nine months after the death of friend Mr. Frank Letchford in December 1998, and the images shown are examples of work in different media since that time. Self-taught, he prefers to work quickly, often in dim light, favouring techniques and materials which allow chance and accident to influence the pictures, in the hope of 'luring out the image' whilst minimising conscious deliberation. His belief, stated in letters to myself, is that "the whole spectrum of magical activity going on at any given moment constitutes a colossal and invisible artwork, for the voluptuous and intricate gestures of mind, body, sense, emotion, intellect accomplished within ritual space and time leave few, if any, objective traces behind… We need to give form to our inherent myth; everyone who can 'make magic' can make pictures - you just have to find a method that excites you and don't pay too much attention to what's been done before…" On the nature of occult art he comments: "The sacerdotal purpose of art has been suppressed and forgotten; in the christian West sacrificed to unbridled commerce, and in non-christian cultures largely reduced to a repetitious series of iconographic formulae. Yet, just as the subjective engagement with magical realities returns us to the primal function of religion, the mere will or impulse to creative expression immediately places the individual's awareness at the pure and original wellspring of art. Here the human contrivances of 'religion' and 'art' cease to have reality for the mind - you are alone amidst the emptiness of 'self', before form, and everything becomes possible… Painting can become an endless conversation with the un-human realm, carried on entirely without words, which are the biggest obstacle to understanding or learning from anything - but especially one's self…"

Premonitory Portrait
Emulsion paint on board, 40 x 49 cm, 1999. Begun as a straight portrait of a particular person, the picture went off in its own direction until, frustrated, I spattered it with red to signal an end. Two days later the subject suffered an injury at work - the wound site was the right jaw, and the head spun back precisely as depicted. An uneasy reciprocation between 'life' and 'art'.

Ugly Child
Acrylic on canvas board, 40 x 30 cm, 2000. Some of the entities which arrive in pictures have purposes which they will unravel at their leisure; others just come to watch

Grey Light Falls
Digital image, 2000. Electronic oneirograph of another place

Vulpes IV (detail)
Acrylic on board, 60.5 x 42.5 cm, 2000.

Imp I
Acrylic and gouache on paper, 29 x 20 cm, 2001. Private collection. From a series of handmade snapshots of elementals at the moment of transition.

Imp II
Acrylic and gouache on paper, 29 x 20 cm, 2001. Private collection. From a series of handmade snapshots of elementals at the moment of transition.

Foxwood
Treated wood veneer, 13.5 x 20 cm, 2001. The familiar reaffirms its affection for the sorcerer - and his for it - by periodically materializing in his surroundings

Emanation
Gouache and acrylic on paper, 29 x 20 cm, 2001. On a crowded street or in an empty room, the infinite pleasure of solitude is one of the sorcerer's richest gifts.

Spirit Portrait
Gouache and ink on paper, 20.3 x 14.1 cm, 2001

Horse
Acrylic on board, 61 x 51 cm, 2001. Private collection. Even the oldest and most trusted servant has a private side never seen. Docility and obedience raise immediate suspicion; the horse's taste for sugared thumbs perhaps betrays its secret appetites