Representational Art

Check Mate; 9-tych +1 panel
Acrylic on panel; each 51 x 51 cm; overall approx 155 x 155
Checkmate
This painting is a symbolic representation of the way of the world today. It is about everyone’s life and a shared sensibility in relation to the underlying and large events that we are all experiencing and the common anxiety we feel. For instance, global warming; Brexit; the threat of terrorism…. There is an underlying uncertainty in the world today that seems more acute.
 
The chessboard is the playing field or platform that we all share. It shows a checkmate position where the king is down and the opposing king and queen have check-mated him. The chessboard has been thrown off-kilter seemingly by a mysterious figure in the background; a powerful woman with wings. She is masked and in a veil and it seems as if her elbow has pushed the chessboard to throw it off its horizontal plane. The woman is what is called in Armenian mythology, a Peri, - an exquisite, winged, fairy like spirit ranking somewhere between an angel and an evil spirit. The second painting of the Peri in a white veil with a lace fan is the wild card panel. She can replace the masked Peri in the nine-tych at the whim of the viewer.
 
An artist called Katsushika Hokusai painted a very famous painting of a wave of the sea - a feminine wave. He painted a masculine wave and a feminine wave. It curls over the chessboard like a tsunami wave. On the underside of the chessboard burning embers flicker. These are natural elements that in large scale cause fear.
 
It is fear that is the subject under scrutiny here and at the heart of this painting.
 
We see the shadow of a bird that is flying somewhere above. We do not see the bird itself. It could be a dove of peace or a black raven of death or the rook on the chessboard. It could be the shadow of the Peri herself.
 
The painting was done on 9 (+1 interchangeable) panels. The fibonnaci spiral is used throughout the painting. The fibonnaci spiral is a mathematical proportion based on the golden mean. Its proportion was used to connect the elements in the painting.
Click on thumbnails below to enlarge
Copyright © 2020 Rose Long