MARTIN
Agnes Martin was defined by the labour of her process. Her early large-scale canvases were mathematical and systematic in their approach, enormous grids sketched by hand, taking months to turn into works of balanced beauty. Yet even in their completed state, the evidence of her work was clear. Night Sea, then, marked a turning point, where the underly power of her works came not from the proof of process but by a marked lightness that absorbs and overwhelms. A dialogue between control and nature, the shimmering blue and luminous gold make the visible grid system almost redundant. Martin creates lightness, an abstraction of the power of nature and renders herself and her labour redundant in the process. Night Sea marks the triumph of her grid paintings, never repeated, where the abstraction and the labour join in perfect harmony.
DALÍ
For modern art critics, it was a mere stunt to depict such a traditional subject. For the traditional, it was sacrilegious to apply such modernity to tradition. For the unskilled eye it was kitsch, lurid nonsense. Only a work by Salvador Dalí could upset all camps equally, and over time cement itself as the most important modern depiction of the crucifixion in the process. Ultimately, every critic from every side was correct – the work is radical as a piece of religious art and overtly banal for a work of surrealist, ‘Dalí’ art. Yet it combines both practices and transcends them, offering a new perspective on an ancient, well told tale. Dali captures a new perspective on Christ, utterly different from any before, and the stroke of true genius is in what it doesn’t show. We are not spoon-fed emotion from reading his expression, we see no blood, no thorns and no nails to tell us of pain. Instead, are left with a suspended body, exquisitely rendered without distraction, and a moment of contemplation. The landscape below is pastoral and simple, a boat and fisherman in Dali’s local port, yet combined with Christ above, Dali said it was the 'nucleus of the atom.. the very unity of the universe, the Christ!’
GOYA
Caged birds, a leashed magpie, three watchful cats and a child just past the threshold of consciousness. Goya’s portrait of the son of Spanish nobility is amongst the greatest painting of a child ever produced, his mastery on full display as the boy’s porcelain skin glows against the bright red of his suit, the restrained brushwork of lace creating an ethereal quality that captures the dream-like state of childhood. But as is so often the case with Goya, the real portrait exists around the subject. The kept birds are a marker of innocence, while the cats, considering their pounce, a harbinger of loss for the very things the birds represent. Magpies, across culture, are creatures of superstition and can be substitutes for the soul. A young boy has his soul under control, but it is caught between two planes, one of innocence and one of experience, and all the necessary danger that will bring.
Chris Gabriel May 11, 2024
The World card is a cosmogram, meaning it depicts the whole of the cosmos. We find a naked woman floating within a ring, her legs crossed and something flowing about her. She is Maya, the embodied force of creation and illusion. Her dancing and spinning manifests the material world. The Four Cherubs frame the corners as symbols of the states of matter…
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Monday 20th May 2024
As we continue to immerse ourselves in the constellation of Virgo, we embrace its earthly qualities, perhaps feeling a stronger connection to gravity. In this state of groundedness, it's an excellent time to make decisions, as clarity and practicality come naturally. In the garden, we can focus on tending to our root vegetables, weeding around them, and checking their development. During this period of transplanting, as the moon descends in Virgo, it's ideal for sowing radishes and carrots.