Waterfront # 3

Firth-Smith's biographer, Gavin Wilson described the paintings from 1998 in the following extract: "Much of the work was a process of assessment in relation to past experience. While interesting paintings began to emerge, there remained a continual need for the artist to stumble over and surprise himself... The successful paintings affirmed his ability to reinvent old forms and, in the passionate handling of paint, wrest fresh meaning." (G Wilson, John Firth-Smith A Voyage That Never Ends, Sydney, 2000, pp.198-200.)