Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Rego draws on well-known sources, including literature, fairy tales, religious stories and cartoons, to give her paintings strong narrative element that draws in the viewer. However, the stories being told are often hard to read as they are subverted to produce an enigmatic, dreamlike atmosphere, influenced by Rego's interest in surrealism. Multiple levels of reference and symbolism both build up and frustrate expectations. Key motifs (dogs, young girls, dominant father figures, claustrophobic family scenes) recur, creating a uniquely personal iconography. She is widely regarded as one of the leading representational artists working today.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

Tate Publishing and Abrams here present the first three titles of a new series on living artists. With their vibrant illustrations and attractive layout, the books are a pleasure to see, and each artist's life, work, and influences are considered at a level of detail usually found only in major exhibition catalogs. The series is exemplary for packing a lot of content into relatively few pages, with the book retaining clarity and coherence by staying close to the facts. The writers avoid jargon and overarching theories and are careful about attributing influences. Interspersed are brief interviews, allowing the artists' own voices to come through. Of the three, Sarah Lucas is the standout because Collings (Blimey! From Bohemia to Britpop) is an exceptional writer associated with the generation of artists who emerged in 1990s Britain. He draws out the black humor beneath the surface of Lucas's deliberately disturbing art, which treats themes of gender and sexuality. The writing is clear without oversimplifying. The authors of the other volumes are also well chosen, and their texts never overshadow the artists. Bradley is the exhibition organizer at the Hayward Gallery, London, and she curated a 1997 retrospective on the Portuguese-born, London-based figurative painter Paula Rego at the Tate Liverpool. Rudd is exhibition curator at the Tate Liverpool, where she worked with pop-artist Peter Blake on his 2000 exhibition. Highly recommended for all art libraries and of interest to larger public libraries.-Michael Dashkin, PricewaterhouseCoopers, New York (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.