19 January 2022

A cynic's take on the the Challenger explosion and the myths of marriage


MCJ
150 X 150 cm

Here is a curiosity that was in the works back in France around 2013 in the studio at Poet Laval. I think it's still in France somewhere in one of my stashes. At the time I would have presumed it to be too indulgent in an easy expressive kind of way. But last week when I found it while going through i-photo I saw something I liked. It strikes me now as a metaphor for those sweet associations of roses but also the inchoate suffering revealed by their dripping death. OK, I know, I know, I have a dark way of seeing the end of everything, but hey...

I often wondered how a love story would look (in a film or book) if one was introduced to the couple in the first scene but at their last meeting when the couple were enduring one another for coffee, tea, or something stronger. In other words we see the penultimate end of the relationship before the author flashes us back through time to the lovey-dovey first dates, the kisses and and caresses, all the lurking promises.

So, this painting sort of opens up this bit of literary manoeuvring for me. I see that it's a painting about endings. I am a cynic for sure but let's admit it, don't most relationships and marriages end up like the Challenger rocket?

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