Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Para la Mesa de Navidad


Para la Mesa de Navidad (For the Christmas Table) measures 36 x 46 cm, and is painted in oils on linen canvas.

This is a picture that I will put forward for a salon-style exhibition later in the year, which is to be held at a new gallery opened by an old friend of mine. If it is accepted, I am fully aware that it won't be liked by the majority of people who see it, but that doesn't concern me; I have painted something that I believe in. It is not intended to shock or revolt, although it probably will have that effect on those who take only a cursory glance at it.

The painting that moves me, and that I try to emulate, is the painting that shows ordinary people in everyday life, but which, nevertheless, challenges our worn-in views and values, and encourages us to see life through other eyes.

This picture shows the last moments of a pig that was slaughtered over the Christmas period a few years ago, in Chiquinquirá, Colombia. In fact, it is the scene watched so intently by the children in my previous painting, Boys Watching a Slaughter.

Asking Price: £350