Ivan Bray is an artist based in Cornwall. Ivan bray works in mixed media. Ivan Bray is represented by Goldfish, Penzance

I paint out of love,’ Bray says, ‘but I often feel that the madness in me is my passionate pursuit for sanity.

I see representation everywhere, I have a doppelganger walking down the country lanes, out on the cliffs while I am painting in the studio.’ Bray’s work tiptoes along that fine line between normality and reason, madness and irrationality and fear. In his paintings, Bray returns to an earlier age, of mythology, of gods and nature, and magic and mysticism. ‘I find symbolism within natural phenomena which is an affirmation of my purpose.’

There is a natural tendency to side-step the darker side of human nature; Bray’s paintings seem to reach out, to make the viewer face and conquer their inner most fears.