Menzies Art Brands

36. GARRY SHEAD

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Garry Shead is one of Australias greatest narrative painters and one of our most celebrated living artists. After training at the National Art School in 1961-62 he briefly worked in the media as an editor, cartoonist, and filmmaker. His first major solo exhibition was held at Watters Gallery, Sydney, in 1966, marking the beginning of an illustrious career spanning over fifty years that continues today. Throughout his career, love and desire have been driving sources of inspiration and are the common thread between many of his major series of paintings, most notably his The Dancers and Artist and Muse series.

While Kiss of the Angel is not directly from either of these series, it is closely related to both, reflecting the same eroticism, romantic ideals and Sheads characteristic poetic lyricism. They all depict couples in intimate settings, which art historian Sasha Grishin describes as, intimate interior settings allud[ing] to an ambiguous and seductive dream-like reality, where ideas and interpretations float free from gravity and verbal associations.'1 Kiss of the Angel is a prime example of this seductive dream-like quality, the passionate kiss tinged with incongruity as the angels wings remind us that perhaps she only exists as a symbolic manifestation of our protagonists inner longing. 

However, the present work differs from Sheads Artist and Muse and The Dancers paintings, in which the male is usually depicted fully dressed while the female is nude, as it shows the angel clothed in a small dress and the male shirtless, rendering the figures far more equal than the traditional roles of working artist and passive muse. Here, the pair are lovers locked in a tender embrace. They seem to float free from their domestic setting in a manner reminiscent of Marc Chagalls (1887-1985) lovers. The two share a moment of private reverie, blissfully unaware of their audience, causing the viewer to become a voyeur enjoying a clandestine glimpse into their intimate space, a motif repeated so often by Shead. 

In most of his paintings, Shead inserts himself into the scene, either as a bystander or by assuming the identity of the protagonist, whether that be D. H. Lawrence, Prince Philip, a dancer or, most fittingly, an artist. With the males face obscured here, we cannot be sure if this is a direct self-depiction, however, Shead almost certainly identifies with his character, stating that, a work of art must have its origin in the life of the artist himself. To express the great emotions is the purpose of a work of art.2

In addition to drawing inspiration from his own sentiments, Shead was a great admirer of the Old Masters. In many of his works, including Kiss of the Angel, we see echoes of the dimly lit rooms and ochre tones of Rembrandt (1606-1669), Goya (1746-1848), and Velzquez (1599-1660). The use of chiaroscuro, developed by artists such as Caravaggio (1571-1610), is also palpable. Shead paints light spilling from the open door in the background and the overhead lamp, holding the couple in its warm glow and contrasting dramatically with the deep darkness of the corners of the room. In referencing these Old Masters, Shead creates a harmony between the art of the past and the timelessness of love and desire.

 

Footnotes:

1. Grishin, S., Garry Shead and the Erotic Muse, Craftsman House, Sydney, 2001, p.166

2. Garry Shead as cited in Grishin, S., Garry Shead and the Erotic Muse, Craftsman House, Sydney, 2001, p.12

 

Asta Cameron BA, MA (Art Curatorship)

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