A thought at year’s end…
December 17, 2009 by johnpaulholden · Leave a Comment
On December 6, Richard Wright, the Glasgow-based artist, won this year’s Turner Prize for work which includes the gold leaf fresco shown above (see the featured video for more info). As The Guardian’s Charlotte Higgins reported, the piece began with a cartoon that was pierced with holes through which chalk was rubbed. This “ghost” outline - applied directly to a wall at the Tate Britain gallery - was then overlaid with adhesive and gold leaf. The technique dates back to the Renaissance and is extremely toilsome. Yet, once the Turner exhibition is finished, the fresco will be painted over and lost forever. For Wright, this knowledge heightens the experience of engagement in both artist and viewer. “To see a work knowing that it will not last,” he says, “emphasises that moment of its existence”. So: more involvement, less distraction and, ultimately, the possibility of coming away with more - all thanks to living in the present; approaching something with an awareness that it could be about to disappear or pass away. Definitely one of my NY resolutions for 2010…
