ARTicle 5 for l’Edicola / Flowers Gallery

Following from the end of the last article in which I briefly wrote about Dalí’s 1951 ‘Christ of Saint John of the Cross’, I wanted to discuss an important exhibition, titled ‘Salvation’, I recently stumbled upon at Flowers Gallery in a London a few weeks ago. Firstly, I’d like to point out the courage of the gallery director, Matthew Flowers in choosing to exhibit an artist who has worked on an entire show on the figure of Jesus Christ. Despite Flowers knowing the artist for a long period of time and the artist also having demonstrated outstanding world-wide recognition in the last few decades, one can acknowledge that painting works on Jesus could be considered to be a rather ‘risky’ subject matter in the eyes of the modern collector. The artist in question, Peter Howson, in his ‘new series of interconnected oil paintings on gesso panels’ (Flowers Gallery), examines biblical narratives and his personal encounters with Christ. Each painting is accompanied by a sketch, which I found to be a very raw and personal addition to the series. On an aesthetic level, the paintings exhibit a stark contrast within their colours, and the facial expressions of the figures are painted in a very marked way, echoing (in my opinion) Frank Miller’s neo-noir comics of the series Sin City, namely in the characters’ eyes.

Having endured painful experiences in his own life (experiencing the Bosnian war in 1993 as a war artist as well as suffering from addiction, to name a few), one can’t help but understand, while absorbing the works, that Howson illustrates his experiences relating (to a lesser extent perhaps, but nonetheless) to the sufferings of Christ. In my understanding, his conversion to Christianity became a vehicle for exploring suffering, renewal and belief and thus retrieving the light in his life; one which can only be found as Carl Jung discusses, through encountering ‘the shadow’ (ie. the dark parts of ourselves we’ve spent our whole lives shying away from). So in Salvation, Christ can almost be understood psychologically as the figure who enters the Shadow rather than escaping it. In this sense, confronting one’s shadow may be paralleled with the image of one ‘carrying their (metaphorical) cross’: an uncomfortable endeavour, charged with pain and at times fear, but one that is necessary in integrating wholeness within an individual. In fact, this is central to Christian thought, as demonstrated in 2 Corinthians 1:5: ‘For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.’ He depicts Christ as an intensely human and almost tangible figure, one whose suffering we can directly feel, as opposed to the idealised Renaissance Christ, often appearing elevated rather than close to the people as seen in Howson’s works. The rage, the trauma, the spiritual redemption and transformation; all those can be felt through Christ and the people surrounding him within the biblical scenes.

As a final note to this brief reflection on the show, I’d like to touch on the subtle use of symbolism in Howson’s work and how it relates to art history. His emphasis on contrast in light pushes the message of light being used as a symbol of spiritual truth, specifically as seen through his works ‘Hypocrites!’ and ‘Ecce Homo’ (of which I painted a study of to accompany this commentary). I’ve always been fascinated by symbolism and how it has evolved over time: from the prehistoric Venus of Willendorf (c. 25000 BCE) to the scarab of Ancient Egypt to halos in Medieval art, all the way to the 19th century symbolist movement, symbolism has been central to artistic expression. I see it as a visual language that can be read through colour and shape, often reflecting the narrative of the time. It seems like, as freedom of expression has progressed, artists have been able to express themselves through a more individual symbolic language, which I personally take advantage of in my own work; a few examples, in a nutshell: the shell representing protection/interiority, the pearl representing transformation (and a memory of my childhood spent in Hong Kong), the moon representing the unconscious, the angels representing threshold figures highlighting the intermediary between conscious and unconscious worlds, the dream-like landscapes representing the psyche itself and all undiscovered parts of ourselves we often encounter through dreams… Although both Howson and my work are using religious imagery, our individuality in using these emblems help to further distinguish our distinctive styles and messages. Thus, although a slight stretch, I would argue that Howson’s work, while echoing Medieval and Renaissance symbolism, further pushes the symbol of Christ and the effect of light surrounding Him as a more personal means to communicate core human experiences, as mentioned earlier. The symbols therefore become allegorical vocabulary rather than decorative motifs.

Finally a show that demonstrates talent, authenticity and profound faith in a spiritually starving (art) world!