The Explorers
James Richards
Lynette Yadom-Boakye
A painter and a film maker take us on two journeys through a timeless subject in the history of art - nature, botanical and human. Each was invited to explore the V-A-C Collection and bring to Venice works of art that represented their vision.
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Diplomacy II, 2009
Painted in 2009 this was one of the artist's first group portraits. The source of the work was an image, which Yandom-Boakye came across, showing world leaders gathered together at a political summit. They stand to attention, bristling with self-importance, political agendas and territorial ambition. The monochromatic palette, sharply punctuated by white shirts, is redolent of the uniformity of bureaucracy.
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Rite of Spring, 2002
Throughout his work the human figure is like a protagonist in a fable. The human body metamorphoses to become animal or vegetable, angel or monster.
Recalling the visual lexicon of theatre, folk art and modernist design, David's expressionist figures appear as if in a dramatic tableau. Inspired by Stravinsky's 'The Rite of Spring' this painting features a procession of dancers whose bodies resemble pale green stalks of wheat and the cross stitched patters of peasant costumes, with heads like blossoming petals.
David shares the composer's aim of expressing 'the mystery and great surge of the creative power of Spring'.
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30 Sunflowers, 1996
'30 Sunflowers' is part of Hockney's Flowers series, which he created at a time of personal loss, including the death of his friend and champion Henry Geldzahler. A visit to a Vermeer exhibition had inspired the artist to paint floral still lifes. Paintings of cut flowers can signify mortality, as beauty succumbs to decay. The vibrant blooms featured here in such profusion may also refer to Van Gogh's famous sunflowers, popularized through mass reproduction.
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Crowds of Autumn, 2016
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