The martyr is a strange type of hero. Decapitated the figure presents his head, as a trophy, like some medieval depiction of a decapitated saint.
The image attempts to push the horror to a point of excess where the tragedy becomes comedy. The empathy lies not in the extent of the paint but the magnitude of the emptiness. The silent scream is not a destination of true terror, but, through the mirroring of the empty sex, a venue of strange wit.
I like this, I’m not sure you have managed to resolve the upper segment of background completely, either the blackness or the handling or what you have chosen to depict there is slightly off to my eye; I would say this is a continuous problem in all your works at the moment. Maybe the problem is that your clown hasn’t found a suitable stage upon which to perform, there’s no reason for him to be doing what he’s doing, nothing to react against. Look at Bacon’s figures and you may say that his backgrounds are a nothingness because they are so simplified, but the violence of the figures are always set in domestic scenes, this came from his real experience, the blank canvas on which his great tragedies could be writ. But i think the central character is really really interesting. I think you have hit upon something with this and your interest in the pathetic squirming martyr has begun to make unique sense rather than being a 2D re-enactment of other artists. I can see the influence from Bacon and Titian but your own individuality has been firmly stamped on it. I think your main problem is still over-thinking, you should perhaps try to concentrate on making a painting you enjoy, using paint in ways that moves you. I believe this would improve your overall technical handling and simply, the delicacy of the paint, it may also help you to resolve the problem of background and foreground that is affecting your work. I’m a hard task-master I know.
Andy
20 Apr 09 at 2:25 pm