INTRODUCTION of the Painting, Burgate our Canterbury Home When I think of group portraits I have in my mind’s eye some of the most memorable and moving accomplishments of western art – paintings such as Rembrandt’s Sampling Officers of the Amsterdam Drapers’ Guild (The Syndics), Degas’ Belleli Family, or Lucien Freud’s Interior in W11 (after Watteau). But especially that extraordinary seventeenth century portrait of the Spanish Infanta and her ladies in waiting, Las Meninas, by Diego Velázquez. Today we are about to witness the unveiling of a special group portrait – a group portrait which will speak to us here and now and not through the prism of art historical time. Why a painting? Perhaps because, as David Hockney remarked the other day, “a photograph isn’t good enough”. The painter reflects on and reinterprets his evidence – whether gained first-hand or as in this case via the camera’s lens. He takes his time before choosing a path. Likeness and resemblance are an armature, a framework, on which he builds a measured and meditative artistic response, inspired by intuition as much as guided by instruction. We are about to see the result of the decisions made by the painter, Ohimai Stephen Areguamen, in his recasting of the bare bones of a photographic document and his forging of it into a work of art. It is a large painting, with a bright and light tonality. The high-keyed palette achieves a mood of warmth and of welcome. There is great spontaneity in the handling of the oil paint. The faces of the sitters are differentiated carefully and almost sculpted in thicker pigment in order to stand out against the sketchier and more loosely painted background representing the altar end of St Thomas’. They look out directly at us, the viewer, and each individual demands close attention, yet they are also welded into a powerfully compelling ensemble, with a distinct communal force and identity. David Felton Curator of the Painting
Posted on: Sun, 30 Nov 2014 10:50:26 +0000
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