PERSEUS | CONCEPT
These works on concave or convex dishes show a male face with curly hair. The features of the young man are not attractive in terms of mere beauty. His mouth is luscious, his nose sharp, his eyes ice-cold.
Nevertheless his face has fascinated me since I saw it in a newspaper. I do not know this person, although his face has been the starting point for nearly 20 of my works, including the one of the series 'Perseus'. Starting point is the right word in this regard, and this is true of nearly all my “portraits”. They are not portraits in the sense of the word, and they were never intended to be. And yet in this case I felt urged to baptise this young man.
I named him after Perseus, a hero of Greek mythology. He defeated Medusa, a monster with veomous snakes instead of her own hair and a stare that turned onlookers to stone. Perseus safely approached the sleeping Medusa by viewing her reflection in his mirror-polished shield (so that her death-bringing glare would not work) and cut off her head.
A famous Renaissance painting by Caravaggio (see end of page) shows the reflection of Medusa’s (already cutt off) head on Perseus’ convex shield right after he had cut it off. The mortal power of a look into her face did not vain after her death and later on Perseus defeated his enemies by showing them Medusa´s head he used to keep in a special magical knapsack! In reference to this idea it is safe to say that Caravaggio wanted to make a really strong painting of magical power.
My painting shows the reflection of Perseus' face in the mirror-shield instead and not Medusa's. This fundamental shift derives from my belief that every deed comes back to you; murderer and victim form an inseparable unity. The round convex shape of the painting recalls Perseus' shield, the curls of hair little snakes, and the ice-cold blue eyes the dangerous glare of Medusa.
The use of the LED light on the back of some works of the series adds something unreal to the painting, something impalpable and almost spiritual. It can be programmed in different colours and it pours colour from the back very subtly over the whole painting. It changes not only the hues of the paint, but the impression and expression of the whole face. The power of the coloured light is evident as soon as the tone of the LED device is changed, and another shade of colour bathes the painting in a surreal light.
Nevertheless his face has fascinated me since I saw it in a newspaper. I do not know this person, although his face has been the starting point for nearly 20 of my works, including the one of the series 'Perseus'. Starting point is the right word in this regard, and this is true of nearly all my “portraits”. They are not portraits in the sense of the word, and they were never intended to be. And yet in this case I felt urged to baptise this young man.
I named him after Perseus, a hero of Greek mythology. He defeated Medusa, a monster with veomous snakes instead of her own hair and a stare that turned onlookers to stone. Perseus safely approached the sleeping Medusa by viewing her reflection in his mirror-polished shield (so that her death-bringing glare would not work) and cut off her head.
A famous Renaissance painting by Caravaggio (see end of page) shows the reflection of Medusa’s (already cutt off) head on Perseus’ convex shield right after he had cut it off. The mortal power of a look into her face did not vain after her death and later on Perseus defeated his enemies by showing them Medusa´s head he used to keep in a special magical knapsack! In reference to this idea it is safe to say that Caravaggio wanted to make a really strong painting of magical power.
My painting shows the reflection of Perseus' face in the mirror-shield instead and not Medusa's. This fundamental shift derives from my belief that every deed comes back to you; murderer and victim form an inseparable unity. The round convex shape of the painting recalls Perseus' shield, the curls of hair little snakes, and the ice-cold blue eyes the dangerous glare of Medusa.
The use of the LED light on the back of some works of the series adds something unreal to the painting, something impalpable and almost spiritual. It can be programmed in different colours and it pours colour from the back very subtly over the whole painting. It changes not only the hues of the paint, but the impression and expression of the whole face. The power of the coloured light is evident as soon as the tone of the LED device is changed, and another shade of colour bathes the painting in a surreal light.
A very famous Renaissance painting by Caravaggio shows the reflection of Medusa’s (already cutt off) head on Perseus’ convex shield. The mortal power of a look into her face did not vain after her death and later on Perseus defeated his enemies by showing them Medusa´s head he used to keep in a special magical knapsack! In reference to this idea it is safe to say that Caravaggio wanted to make a really strong painting of magical power.
Caravaggio's idea of using a convex shield as a canvas was to paint it from Perseus' point of view – in the instance Medusa's reflection appeared on his shield, right before he killed her.
Caravaggio's idea of using a convex shield as a canvas was to paint it from Perseus' point of view – in the instance Medusa's reflection appeared on his shield, right before he killed her.
Medusa, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, 1598, 60x55 cm (24 in × 22 in) , oil on canvas mounted on a convex wooden plate, Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi