KING CRIMSON DISCOGRAPHY 2
fin de siecle - oil on wood 90 x 70 inches
In my painting FIN DE SIECLE I make reference to the historic tradition of religious icons particularly the image of the Madonna and Child which for two millennia has held such an important place in western art, where this vision of motherhood which over the centuries has offered a role model of unconditional and tender love.
The Madonna in my painting is shown wearing her traditional blue, a colour often also associated with the nurse but transformed into a somewhat disturbing and surreal figure by the addition of the gas mask. As a mother myself I was equally disturbed by reports through the media during the Gulf War of Israeli families having to wear gas masks during the Iraqi scud missile attacks. It struck me that it would have been very distressing for babes and infants to see their parents transformed into these frightening elephantine creatures. Thus the image of their mothers that would normally be associated with love and affection, could in fact become the opposite.
A mothers greatest fear is that anything should harm the children she has lovingly nurtured and protected through infancy and childhood. Those mothers whose sons make the ultimate sacrifice, losing their lives fighting for country or ideal, know the anguish that the madonna also suffered.
Thus the threat of war and conflict to her young is abhorrent to her. The infant here is not only making reference to the infant Christ but also symbolic of the new century and the world which is under constant threat. Not only the threat of war and famine but also degradation by pollution and overindulgence (symbolised in the predella which makes the bottom panel), the disregard for our natural resources, wildlife and our fellow Man.
Again in the tradition of religious painting, there is always the presence of hope and peace symbolised here by the white dove ( frequently the symbol for the Holy Spirit or in modern usage by Chagall and Picasso as a symbol of peace) whereas the crows, living off carrion, are used more usually to evoke fear of death and the aftermath (as in Van Gogh's late paintings and Hammer Horror films).
This particular work was painted at the end of 1998 and beginning of 1999 during the Kosovo war. It seemed appalling to me that as we neared the end of the 20th century(hence the title, end of the century) that we were still capable of being as barbaric and greedy in our dealings with our fellow beings as at any one time, looking across the globe there are wars, many of them civil, holding back the progress of mankind.
from pjc's essay PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST WATCHING HER CHILDREN GROW in 'The fruits of labour - Motherhood and Creativity' edited Penny Sumner, The Womens Press 2001
it could be us - oil on canvas & wood 50 x 70 inches - collection Professor Philip & Nancy Kotler