amphitheatrum sapientiae aeternae

Friday 13 November 2009

Frottaged images of the Ripple

The Rosebud PZ 87 done in frottage and seen here against the original using red polyethylene fishing line, heavy duck sailcloth on panel with acrylic gesso.
There are more "print-off's" of the Rosebud 260mm x 360mm approx - 32mm x 42mm Oak Frame glazed. PZ 87 Rosebud has been quite a popular image. either 07904276693 or email jonathan_polkest (at)hotmail.com or contact via http://www.axisartist.org/artistid/jonathanpolkest

The Ripple is available in charcoal, Caran D'ache or graphite in A2 cartridge paper, fixed using a neutral ph balance in an Oak Frame 520mm x 720mm glazed for £175.00



Ripple Image; The Lugger transformed by John Lambourn in Newlyn, now an object of beauty to be seen around the Mounts Bay in fine weather, the distinctive rectangle of blackest black velvet in the tarred hull and the earth red terracotta sail lugg-rig bring an aesthetic sublety to a pragmatic world of tradition.
I'm making some frottaged images at size A2 of charcoal renderings of the Ripple being refurbished using Gorse Charcoal I retrieved from a big gorse fire on Cudden Point about fifteen years ago, the characteristics are explosive and erratic since, unlike willow the gorse can harbour a nut of compressed carbon in the otherwise smoothly burnt wood leading a long continuous line into an abrupt ending of blankness or a visable splot of charcoal.
This unplannable dimension helps to offset my willful insistence towards figurative perception, bringing an element of disruption, ambiguity and converting the "thin air" of concentrated observation or design into more of a struggle between the qualities of the paper or the drawing material, the two worlds of the subject and the outcome, the first being a mere starting point for the latter.
The original work rendered in printed flax, black woolen yarns with armenian bole measures 600mm x 600mm and a greeting card image of the original at size A5 is available

Monday 24 August 2009

Consciousness Land and textiles by Jonathan Polkest

Caer Gybbi - Holy Mountain,
Ynnis Môn
Multiples and textile








Rerequiem

Monday 18 May 2009

The Decameron by Jonathan Polkest

I'm saddened to see that in 1720 Daniel Defoe said "Redruth is worthy of no consideration...", which of course is completely wrong in every way. Going back a little further to 1348 when Redruth was entertaining some far more appreciative visitors, apart from marauding Saxon mercenaries who somehow seem to have kept on arriving and building biodomes, restaurants and theme parks...Far from Redruth (not a metaphor) The Flea a vanishing vampire and herein the representation of collective death in The Decameron; Boccaccio's account of The Black Death plus nine other stories is probably one of the most commonly known sources. Alberto Teneti's article "La rappresentazione della morte collettiva nel Decameron" discusses the lack of Boccaccio's attachment of a moral or religious significance to the devastating event. Tenanti notes that the author takes care not to allow a Christian interpretation of the Plague to prevail, indifferently attributing it either to the influence of the celestial bodies or to Gods divine justice. Boccaccio refuses to take a position but there is without a doubt sympathy on his part towards the tragic situation in the Florentines.
My quest for an identifiable icon for European history, with notions of unification, bonds or commonality rests on the shoulders of the carrier of the Black Death - The Flea, though currently some dispute this source of pestilence I cling to the notion of destruction through close contact in increasingly over populated, unsavoury habitats. Could the Flea serve in anyway to allegorize the mass movement of people around and through Europe now?