'Jester' 59.4cm x 42cm. Indian Ink on 60lb cartridge paper.
I read the autobiography 'Celebration' by Graham David Smith many moons ago, and the jacket photograph always struck me as really beautiful. Given that I was at a bit of a juncture with my artwork, I used that to get me started again. My work often has elements of duality, opposing forces, things that don't automatically go together, so I took the smoothness of the human form and used a scribble type effect that's quite harsh and vigorous to portray the shading of the form.
I have a strange thing for Venetian masks at present, so I combined the two, baring the nakedness of the torso with the covering of the eyes for concealment, such honesty and vulnerability with deliberate disguise. The history of the masks depict that they were used to originally enable 'fair trade' between the classes in C12th Venice between the trades people and the upper classes, but their use soon became utilised to cover all sorts of gambling and debauchery, especially between the classes.
I love the idea of the stunning loud gregarious masks being used for such secret liaisons, a way to disguise in order to be completely true to oneself. A trait we all have to one degree or another. The layers and facets of the human mind often have this weird duality, I know I do.
My current piece is based directly on this duality, using the 'Jester' and doubling up the image to produced a reversed mirror effect, a two faced man. So with that I will leave you and continue with the piece, hopefully completing today.
