Whilst not being everyone’s friend care of their habits of praying on the rubbish bins of urban dwellers in the wee small hours and generally noisy rummaging through people’s discarded waste products in the dead of night, the red fox is an undeniably attractive beast, that automatically lends itself to be immortalised on canvas in all its natural splendour and beady-eyed appeal. Acclaimed contemporary artist, Gary Benfield definitely thinks so, otherwise he wouldn’t have originated his latest visual piece based on the aforementioned nocturnal visitor to our back yards and gardens. ‘Reynard II’ could be caught in either its more traditional rural landscape or a more cosmopolitan one for all we know, as Benfield chooses not to regale us of its setting, instead focusing his considerable illustrative attentions on the fox itself, as the background bleeds into the ether. But what a compositional feast he leaves us; the sharpest of face, the clearest of features the most pronounced of intent and purpose, thanks to a depth of graphical colouration and exemplary balance.