Work in progress.
The painting contains the shape of a glass goblet viewed from beneath with the suggestion of sparkling wine, a celebration, yet at the bottom is a skull, the insoluble residue .The inside of the skull and the teeth are visible, also the throat which forms a stem to the glass .
Although the bowl shape is containing, it is breached in places, mainly by slabs of white, like light, which spins out of space to sculpt the form, as well as peeling outwards from it .
The painting could refer to addiction, using a pun with the famous mirror idea from the King James Bible as title.
As in other recent paintings the mouth and speech are prominent, however the image is a departure , and whilst being abstract, has more figurative references. it is an example of the way the content of paintings arrives - the work is a struggle, but the result is out of my hands . To me this image suggests the past, in an atmospheric, semi-mythic way, as embodied by certain examples of sixties cool and post-bop jazz, and the paintings of Francis Bacon..
If the artist lives a life steeped in art, music and poetry, the ground is prepared and images can emerge .
Andrew Motion has written that for Keats medicine and writing were different ways of being a physician, and Ted Hughes saw in the poet the role of healer . Motion refers to Apollo - God not only of music and poetry, but of medicine too .
Surely then, the artist should not feel self-indulgent about casting a wide perimeter, without knowing if this will be useful in work . It is impossible to know, and besides, such a quest has universal significance. Joseph Campbell’s mono-myth refers to something similar.
All this also is looking through the glass darkly - looking into a fragmented mirror.
Through a Glass Darkly
Acrylic and mixed media on Linen 90 x 150 cm
