A DETAIL from the painting, Phil Irish. "Hope, my love." Oil on panel. 2007.
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I haven't posted anything about this, because it is so personal. But also so public. A weird thing... now I feel that, by posting a detail, this can be shared.
The PUBLIC PART: I have a portrait shortlisted for the Kingston Prize! This national portrait competition has selected 30 works for exhibition, and the prize winner(s) will be chosen from that group. I'm pleased to see some artists I know in the line-up, as well as others I don't. It should be a good party: the gala is on October 4th.
The PRIVATE PART: This painting was not done as part of any series or thread within my work. It was done as a private work, to mark a significant moment in Anna's life, and my life. Our lives together. In a way it is a quiet painting -- no broad gestures or abstract ruptures. Quietly honouring the hope we have, and the suffering we leave behind... how both hope and suffering leave their bodily marks. The result, I feel, is a sensitive image of great power. Anna, my love...
Now this private thing goes public, making us both rather awkward. We actually don't want people who know us to see it... but, for "art-land," it will function as an image apart from the complexities of our lives lived. How's that for conflicted? I won't be conflicted should we happen to get the $10 000, though -- haha!