Nietzsche’s vision of the creator as a tightrope-walking acrobat seems a particularly apt description of British abstract painter Fiona Rae. At the time of her first solo show, in 1991, Stuart Morgan compared her to a juggler “playing for time,” and Richard Shone continues the circus metaphor in his catalogue essay for her most recent show. Shone seems, though, to be itching to throw Rae a big bouquet, noting that the new work extends beyond the “flirtatious ludic quality” of her earlier paintings, and that this time the “tightrope is long and high, the safety net seemingly miles below.”

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