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KEITH HOLMES
VENICE IS IN THE DETAIL
at The Millinery Works Gallery
Wednesday 7 until Sunday 25 September 2005
Tuesday to Saturday 11am to 6pm, Sunday 12 to 5pm
For further information E Mail: paul@millineryworks.co.uk
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Dawn Shadow 74 x 25.5cms (29 x 10)
The tall narrow format here was dictated by the subject. The taut wire and its securing clips cast a striking shadow suggestive of the cross of Lorraine.
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Gelateria 61 x 91.5cm (24 x 36)
One does not think of Venice in relation to Art Deco, so I was arrested by this terrific Deco shop sign. The nearby presence of a Madonna seems appropriate, since all Italian ice cream parlours deserve divine protection.
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Bestiary 30.5 x 58.5cms (12 x 23)
This is another example of the common Venetian practice of a beautiful ancient fragment of sculpture patched into a later wall as decoration. It shows what might be a deer attacked by a savage mythological beast. Rain had washed away the wall colour to create the effect of a bloodletting beneath the scene. The cabling and modern grille add again a stark contrast of new to old.
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Three Graces 65 x 43cms (25.5 x 17)
These three electric junction boxes with their round tops and sinuous cabling irresistibly suggested to me the Three Graces. But the element on the left has a definitely male character so this could be a
'Judgement of Paris' too.
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Caging the Lion 62.5 x 40.5cms (24.5 x 16)
I found this in a little courtyard in Cannareggio. The marble carving is the lion of St Mark - the symbol of Venice. The balcony railing and its shadow reminded me of animal cages I had seen in Cambodia. The courtyard had been gentrified and, including the lion, had been very scrubbed up. The lion - Venice - caged.
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Bracing 51.5 x 99cms (20.25 x 39)
This is about the striking cruciform brick and stone double arch, or brace, that prevents the two buildings from falling into the calle between them. The single keystone serving both arches is an intriguing feature. It is also about the electric wires strung across the gap. It seemed to me that while the arch kept the buildings apart the wires were pulling them together. My first title for this painting was Tension because the cable was the tautest I saw in Venice. The extraordinary shadows were thrown by the stark mid-afternoon sun.