Painting

Amphorae

Paintings of the vessels from the Wedding at Cana, made for Chapelle Paraire, Rodez.

Date: 1 January 2017
Medium: Oil on canvas

Bride and Groom Mixed media on canvas, 147 cm x 183 cm, 2017 In the months before the exhibition for the “Wedding at Cana” I found myself inside the Parish Church of Santa Margalida in Mallorca, on the wall to the right of the entrance there is a beautiful work on panel of a Man and a Woman, each in their own arched space under a starry sky, with carved roundels and several figures which appear to be saints. I took many photographs to use for reference as It would have been a perfect starting point to create a painting from. Unfortunately by the end of that week the car had been broken into and camera and phones stolen. It seemed that someone didn’t want the figurative aspect of that particular religious masterpiece used to create a contemporary artwork. This left me with only memories of the structure of the panel itself with some colours, the verdigris green sky with gilded stars, the carved structures above the figures and the small panels where the saints were rendered on gesso. On returning and starting work in the studio, it was this moment of loss and memory which triggered the thought to move away from previous ideas for a purely figurative series of paintings for the exhibition, along with the old broken amphora in the corner of the studio. I knew then that as the man and woman from the panel in Santa Margalida were symbolic, the amphora too could be used as purely a symbol, a vessel. I did however want to appropriate elements of the structure of the original panel in order to pay homage to an underappreciated form of iconography.

Work made specifically for the “Noces de Cana” exhibition, Chapelle Paraire, Rodez, France.

The wedding at Cana has been portrayed for centuries — by Veronese and Tintoretto, later by Flemish artists such as Jan Cossiers and Maerten de Vos, and by many others since. Those works share Christ, Mary, dinner tables, guests, servants, grand settings, and the six jars in which the miracle occurred.

An amphora is a container of characteristic shape, used in vast numbers for transport and storage, mostly of wine. In these paintings the cliché of grand settings and depictions of Christ is set aside in favour of the humble vessels without which the miracle could not have occurred. Without something to put the water in first, there would be nothing to hold the wine.

They came in a huge variety of shapes and sizes, as do we, and are depicted so in the great works, from simple stoneware to ornate jars. They are in many ways symbolic of the common person — sometimes overlooked, put to many uses, and on occasion a vessel for greatness.

Gallery

From water, I bring forth wine Mixed media on canvas, 147 cm x 183 cm, Found amphora, 2017 This painting’s origins were directly taken from the fact that I have an almost complete coral encrusted amphora, which I found long before the invitation to exhibit. Many amphorae today have come from the sea bed, from the remains of Roman vessels which sank whilst transporting goods. Some have been discovered that still contain the original contents. This, along with my love of wordplay, especially in titles, led to the work representing more of a modern analogy. It is a form of miracle that wine can survive 2000 years untouched until being brought up from the depths sealed and secure, even if its drinkability may never be tested. Here the canvas shows only five of the six amphorae that are usually depicted, I wanted to use my amphora as though it had miraculously appeared from the flat image and become part of our reality.

Amphorae Mixed media on canvas, 80 x 80cm, 2017

An Island in the Moon Mixed media on canvas, 50 cm x 50 cm, 2017 In John: 2-12, when Jesus says “What is it you would have me do?” there was a moment after I read these words that I, being cynical found a correlation with a line sung by the Cynic in William Blake’s “An Island in the Moon” about Phebus, “What is it you would please to have?”. More so, as Phebus’s description a few lines later “He was the God of Physic, Painting, Perspective, Geometry, Geography, Astronomy, Cookery, Chymistry, [Conjunctives], Mechanics, Tactics, Pathology, Phraseology, Theolog[y], Mythology, Astrology, Osteology, Somatology, in short every art & science adorn'd him as beads round his neck.” Would make Phebus the perfect God for a painter such as myself, one who was educated in both Art and Science and who loves to combine elements of both in their approach to the creation of work. The painting itself borders upon the abstract, it is however a work which shows the Moon shining down upon the remains of six broken amphorae, as the water flows across the land and undergoes its transmutation into wine (It may also be read as blood thus linking symbolically, the miracle of Jesus with that of Moses when turning the Nile red with blood). The land’s rocky desolation, alluding to that of the Moon’s surface. There is also a small almost abstract figure in the upper middle, crouching as though defecating into a hat, as there is in Blake’s story.

Amphorae II Mixed media on canvas, 100 x 100cm, 2017

He’s not the Messiah! He’s a very naughty boy! Oil, acrylic on canvas, 147 cm x 178 cm, 2017 In this instance I wanted to include a more figurative work alongside the works that only contain amphorae. It is a distinct form of visual enquiry to those which are grounded in the use and reactions of material. One which nonetheless, informs and supports those areas of my artistic practice and yet stands separately from them. When researching the story of the wedding in John:2-12, it struck me that Jesus didn’t react well to his mother asking him to help out with the catering, saying “Woman, what does this have to do with me?”, with her then having to browbeat him into complying with her wishes. It immediately made me think of Him as a rude and petulant child, which then reminded me of Monty Python’s satirical view in the “Life of Brian” where the mother says to a crowd of followers “He’s not the Messiah, he’s a very naughty boy!”. Giving me the title. The painting itself includes a Rabbi to officiate, Jesus creating a link between the water above to the amphorae below, the fish of later miracles, the beating, the wounds, crucifixion, many elements of his life from this first miracle onwards. The colour palette in this case linking the work to others in the exhibition, where I was using blues, greens and red, browns, as simple analogies for water and wine.