Folly
2015, Folly, Egg tempera and gold leaf on antique chestnut, 700 x 700 mm.
I read a newspaper one weekend that reported: drug trafficking; war, starvation, slavery, obesity epidemic, vanity, financial greed, debauchery, inappropriate cosmetic surgery, climate change and “the most dangerous thing in the world…apathy”(Karmapa). I immediately thought of Bosch and Signorelli and how many issues were unchanged – the ‘developed’ world undone by the stupidity, arrogance and folly of man: A world both globalised yet destroyed by technology.
The support of fragmented wood symbolises the disintegration of reason and the world; the use of medieval technique but modern imagery attempts to document a conversation with the past. The background is based on the Mappa Mundi (Hereford) to place the artwork in the mythopoeic landscape with Jerusalem, still in many ways, being the axis. On the verso is a depiction of the Earth from satellite on 20th March 2015, the date of a solar eclipse: this is both a biblical reference and a reminder that mankind is insignificant in time and stature compared to celestial forces.
The support of fragmented wood symbolises the disintegration of reason and the world; the use of medieval technique but modern imagery attempts to document a conversation with the past. The background is based on the Mappa Mundi (Hereford) to place the artwork in the mythopoeic landscape with Jerusalem, still in many ways, being the axis. On the verso is a depiction of the Earth from satellite on 20th March 2015, the date of a solar eclipse: this is both a biblical reference and a reminder that mankind is insignificant in time and stature compared to celestial forces.