Just before lockdown, I was fortunate to get a glimpse of the British Museum "Troy" exhibition which inspired the works on these pages. I was intrigued by the three-tiers of excavations that had taken place at various different points in time and "In search of Helen" itself attempts to represent three layers of media in its construction. my paintings attempt to refocus attention on the women who feature in the exhibition and of course Penelope's wait for her husband's return became a novel form of "isolation".
Palette Paper works
Inevitably, paint mixed on palette paper dries, limiting its functional life. It does however leave a memory map of colour once employed elsewhere. And its reverse reveals an even more surprising memory: the faint, subtle echo of colours from an original deliberate creation. My palette paper artworks are a palimpsest of previous endeavours preserved in double sided frames. My process seemed to have particular significance for this Troy series because the British Museum exhibition revealed how the process of excavation was in itself a process of discovering (at different periods of time) different layers of objects buried beneath the earth. These works are a tangible representation of what it means to recreate the past. You can see see other palette paper works of mine in the section of the website dealing with my Barbican works.
Acrylic, ink on reversed recycled palette papers
Bespoke white wood frames with anti-reflective glass and double framed so the reverse can be seen.
43 x 29 x 3
These will be displayed on a glass wall in the exhibition so they can be viewed on both sides.
In Search of Helen (Troy 1,2,3) (reference to the three layers of excavation represented by different media here)
Acrylic, gouache, walnut ink on Fabriano
Bespoke walnut frame with AR glass
58 x 79 x 4
Trojan Horse
Acrylic, gouache, walnut ink, ink on Fabriano
Bespoke walnut frame with AR glass
58 x 79 x 4
Trojan Vessel (1)
Acrylic, walnut in on the lid of a large size Kleenex tissue box lid, set on Indigo cotton rag paper
Bespoke walnut frame 28 x 13 x 1
Trojan vessel (2)
Acrylic, walnut ink on the lid of a large size Kleenex tissue box lid, set on Indigo cotton rag paper
Bespoke walnut frame 28 x 13 x 1