IOMA 032 - Clean Sheets

2021
 

In Roman history, Lucretia was the daughter of a nobleman in Roman, who was raped by a son of the last King of Rome, leading to the change from Republic to Government.

In 2021 I was commissioned to respond to Guido Reni's Death of Lucretia, 1536 for the blimey! publication.

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I responded via my www.instituteofmonochromeart.com project, in which I paired Alison Watt and Hans Bellmer.

The focus of Reni's Lucretia skin tone and clothing reminded me of Watts fabric paintings (Watt was Associate Artist, National Gallery, London, United Kingdom in 2008) and the  narrative of Bellmer's fetishized dolls.  The juxtaposition of Watts and Bellmer imagery, linked via the bedsheets are the aftermath of sexual violence and how individuals manage the trauma.  The title of this pairing is 'Clean Sheets' (taken from Howard Hodgkin's painting of the same name) as an action of containment.