Humphrey ocean - Ben Thomas

Over five decades, the painter Humphrey Ocean RA's work has filtered into our national culture.

This includes his series of portraits entitled A handbook of modern life displayed at the National Portrait Gallery in 2013; his portrait of Christopher Le Brun, President of the Royal Academy of Arts; and the cover of Sir Paul McCartney's 2007 album Memory Almost Full, which featured one of the Chair series.

Ocean's practice encompasses painting, printmaking, sculpture, book-making and drawing.

Of the last, he has said: 'Paper is lovely, immediate and personal.

I draw as an end in itself.

' In 2019 his exhibition 'Birds, Cars and Chairs' is on display at the Royal Academy of Arts.

Of these subjects, he says: 'Birds, cars and chairs are, in that order, ancient, modern and intimate.

Without them life would be a lot less bearable.

' These works are reproduced alongside others in the book to provide a fascinating overview of Ocean's career, with an essay by Ben Thomas, which sets out to discover exactly what it is that makes Ocean's art so appealing and universal.