After making the small video maquette "Blue" I was interested to investigate further my association of tarpaulins and blue shopping bags with the folds of images of the Madonna's robes, and the sea waves.
It was an interesting experience. So many shining altarpieces which would have been unique objects of great reverence within the darkness of the Mediaeval church, yet now they are all stacked up together with little labels. There's almost too many. I concentrated my attention on two pieces: Duccio's Annunciation. which is a monumental double sided altarpiece from Siena Cathedral installed in 1311. At the time it was made it was the richest and most complex altarpiece in Christendom. Here it is out of context in a gallery yet the imagery and the materials still have power- the blue washes over you like a tide.
The other piece I studied for some time was the tiny Wilton Diptych made for Richard 11 around 1360.
Wilton Diptych, Artist unknown
At a time when literacy was very low, and access to the Bible controlled by the clergy, sacred paintings were the articles of faith.
The intense blue still of the Madonna's robe, made of the most expensive pigment lapis lazuli, literally brought ultra mare - the only source of supply at that time was in Afghanistan.
Unlike the pureness of the blue of Yves Klein and modern pigments, this mineral pigment was extracted laboriously and retained flecks of gold.The ineffability of blue has also been an influence for the Skyspaces of James Turrell and Anish Kapoor's A Wing at the Heart of things.
I realised that I was looking pictures made of gold and pigment on wood and this had lasted for 700 years. Blue plastic bags, though throwaway items, would also last for as long.
I studied the fine detail especially of the Wilton Dyptch. I was reminded of Domo Baal's comment that 'People love looking at gold" .
Helen Chadwick commented that the beauty in the object would draw you into a work.
MOTTOES AND BANDEROLES
I also looked at the Latin mottoes and banderoles in the paintings, and in Mediaeval Books of Hours: A motto is a phrase meant to formally summarize the general motivation or intention of an individual, family, social group or organization. Mottos are usually not expressed verbally, unlike slogans, but are expressed in writing and usually stem from long traditions of social foundations, or also from significant events, such as a civil war or a revolution. I'm in a local community modern Gospel choir, and I made a connection between these and the use of some aspirational phrases in modern urban contemporary Gospel.
