In and around the mid-eighties Patrick Collins started to experiment with shaping the canvas by cutting them into irregular shapes using a scissors. Collins had always shown an acute awareness of how the painted image related to the edge of the picture plane. He usually created an inner painted frame that emphasised the atmosphere of the depicted image. This more brutal strategy of the ‘cut outs’ divided his supporters at the time, some seeing it as radical breakthrough others as a novelty, a conceit. Now nearly twenty years on since Collin’s created this last series of works we are re-presenting them for consideration – to see if time has rendered this suite as important a seam in Collin’s oeuvre as his other work. We are indebted to a private collection for making his work available for exhibition.