Financial Times

In his 1963 poem “A Boy’s Head”, Czech poet Miroslav Holub sifts through the imaginary contents of a child’s mind, from spaceships and bumblebees to “a project for doing away with piano lessons”. The work has been endlessly inspiring for New York artist Seth Becker, whose solo exhibition of the same name recently opened at Venus Over Manhattan gallery.

A librarian by day, Becker tries “to preserve boyhood and innocence” in his small oil paintings, which are often collaged with wallpaper. “I grew up in a home covered in wallpaper,” he says, “so it’s comforting”. Other motifs from his childhood include dogs — “I carried around a dictionary of dog breeds” — and the brooding figure of Batman, who in one painting leans against his living-room wall. Seth Becker: A Boy’s Head is at Venus Over Manhattan, New York until 9 March