September 11th
"It only takes a Man to turn God's words into the Devil's deeds" - Yrik Max Valentonis
Everyone seems to have been touched by the Twin Towers disaster in one way or other and I, along with many other artists, have felt impelled to express my reaction. Two features struck me. First, despite all the teachings of Christ, Mohammed, Buddha and other religious leaders, moralists and philosophers, man's inhumanity to man continues unabated. Secondly, many of the photographs of the disaster had a marked similarity to the images painters have used in Western civilisation over the last millenium to depict man's infliction of suffering, especially in Christian art. I have tried to illustrate these points in my paintings, mainly by adapting photographs taken in the aftermath of September 11th , and putting them into a familiar and often spiritual context. It is probably unfashionable and maybe simply egoistical to imagine that artists can change the way the world operates, yet that, I suppose, is what I am trying to do in my own small way.
Click on the image to see full art work
Everyone seems to have been touched by the Twin Towers disaster in one way or other and I, along with many other artists, have felt impelled to express my reaction. Two features struck me. First, despite all the teachings of Christ, Mohammed, Buddha and other religious leaders, moralists and philosophers, man's inhumanity to man continues unabated. Secondly, many of the photographs of the disaster had a marked similarity to the images painters have used in Western civilisation over the last millenium to depict man's infliction of suffering, especially in Christian art. I have tried to illustrate these points in my paintings, mainly by adapting photographs taken in the aftermath of September 11th , and putting them into a familiar and often spiritual context. It is probably unfashionable and maybe simply egoistical to imagine that artists can change the way the world operates, yet that, I suppose, is what I am trying to do in my own small way.
Click on the image to see full art work
