Ansel Krut was born in Cape Town, South Africa, where he spent some time as a medical student before joining the Fine Art course at the University in Witwatersrand. He then came to Europe, firstly to the Cite Internationale des Arts, Paris, in 1982-83, and then to the Royal College of Art in London until 1986, from where he won the Prix de Rome and spent several years furthering his art in Rome and elsewhere in Italy. After an extended working visit to the USA, he has lived in London since 1992.<I>The inhabitants of his canvases are the unwitting agents of destiny - actors in some nameless master-plot - a microcosm of the real world. Unable to control their own actions, unsure of their lines, they are inevitably drawn into the creation of a jangled, emotional narrative. Resigned to their fate, they await, with an air of ennui, the arrival of some mythical Godot who will rationalize their predicament. It doesn't take long to realise that this is where you, the viewer, come in. In the best Renaissance tradition, it is only you who can create the missing part of Krut's tableaux. Stay long enough and their universal relevance will reveal every one of these extraordinary paintings to be a great deal more than just 'something in disguise.'</I> (Iain Gale, from the catalogue for <I>Ansel Krut</I>, Jason & Rhodes, London, 1996)