ITALY

Italy could be summed up as a journey in search of the artist's roots and pays tribute to the great Italian masters: the frescoes and tempera paintings of Fra Angelico, Duccio and Giotto, as well as the sculpture of Michelangelo, particularly the Pieta (Florence.)

"They could be called 'improvisations' or perhaps 'meditations' is a better word because each of my paintings has a number of 'paintings' within it, and the whole thing needs to be 'read' in several directions - across, through, and into - like a medieval manuscript.

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(7) Florence II
Homage is being paid here to Michelangelo's late Florentine Pieta: in fact, the figure holding Christ is a portrait of Michelangelo himself. Surrounding this focal pairing is the city and its Cathedral based on a medieval manuscript, man in a boat (after Pisano) and [to the right] the baptism of Christ (from the door of the bapistry.)

(8) San Gimignano
The city's landscape (its famous towers shown on the left) is seen against references to frescoes from the Cathedral, including scenes from a matrimonial subject, along with men in a boat and a 'pieta.'

(9) Florentine Bouquet
Visiting the Academica in Florence, the artist was struck by the beauty of a bouquet of lilies. Inside he was very much attracted by a painting called 'The Madonna of Humility' and he decided to combine the two subjects.
As the Madonna herself emerges from the flowers, an angel flies out of the vase beneath while another figure plays a tambourine. Florence's bridges form the background, as interior and exterior views interact in establishing the painting's complex space.

 

 (10) Crucifixion after Cimabue, Florence
In this work Clark pays respect to the early great painter, Cimabue
(whose magnificent Crucifixion was damaged in the flood of the
1960's.)

Anthony Clark ©2008