Portraits of hubris : painting despots in the contemporary era : an exegesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand
Loading...
Date
2013
DOI
Open Access Location
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Massey University
Rights
The Author
Abstract
From
ancient
times
political
leaders
have
risen
to
immense
power
then
suffered
dramatic
falls.
This
was
no
different
in
the
late
twentieth
and
early
twenty-‐first
centuries,
with
the
end
of
various
dictatorial
regimes
across
the
world.
For
the
current
artist,
living
in
Romania
before,
during
and
after
the
eastern
European
communist
period,
the
experience
and
memories
of
watching
these
falls
was
made
particularly
vivid
through
digital
and
live
televised
broadcast.
How
does
one
represent
this
recent
history
through
contemporary
painting?
How,
why
and
should
one
depict
the
duality
of
political
hubris?
From
2010
to
2012
the
author
painted
a
series
of
paintings
of
dictators,
all
of
them
depicted
at
their
deaths.
Beginning
with
a
group
of
black
and
white
oil-‐based
portraits
of
eastern
European
leaders,
moving
on
to
bright
streaks
of
colour
and
portraits
of
notorious
fallen
world
despots,
the
author
addresses
various
questions
around
the
emotional
responses
triggered
by
this
specific
genre
of
political
portraiture.
Taking
photographic
records
as
an
initial
source,
the
author
examines
different
techniques
of
representing
‘the
unrepresentable’
through
painting.
Contrasting
responses
of
absence
and
alienation,
coupled
with
emotional
affinity
and
identification
are
explored,
in
the
context
of
historical
events
and
regimes
that
were
without
doubt
horrific.
The
work
of
selected
contemporary
artists,
including
Gerhard
Richter,
Luc
Tuymans,
Marlene
Dumas
and
Wilhelm
Sisnal,
who
have
dealt
with
a
similar
problematic
are
set
against
a
detailed
exegesis
of
the
author’s
own
approach
and
techniques.
The
place
and
relevance
of
painting
in
the
contemporary
era
of
digitised
and
live
imagery
is
affirmed.
Description
Keywords
Portrait painting, Portraits of politicians, Dictators in art, Corpses in art