This is a draft for the poem which has been spawned and then influenced my planned painting of Lucretia. The painting draws from Titians portrayal of Tarquin and Lucretia. With Tarquin removed I am interested in the horror of her grasping at nothingness. I like the notion, as with Adonis, that this is the later moment, after the rape and suicide. The story of Lucretia rather than the narrative threads which her death caused (Oath of Brutus and downfall of Roman monarchy.)_ Her story is her being trapped , in afterlife, with the horrific memories. The painting has only been designed in photoshop so far and the poem is a very loose draft.
Lucretia
The juggler dropped his balls
Pantomine turned to theatre
A gust of will pulled the curtains back
Whilst the voyeur and the slave awaited the feast
The drum beat began
Lust gnawed away at logic and devoured humanity
Dragging Tarquin to a fit of rage
He made Lucretia his fleshy delight
Robbing her of dignity to present us the spectacle
Purple pants, splattered fit of ravages
Rapped, an emptied vessel
Lucretia’s blade of dignity was supposed to free her
From it a series of events were spawned
The drummer boys continuous rhythm played on
Whilst her heart had be brought to a close
The oath of Brutus,
The fall of Tarquin and the rise of the Roman republic
All unfolded from the moment of horror
Reaction but no hiatus
Responded to but forgotten
The rancid moment washed into the past
For Lucretia the pain continued
Cupid had paused his flute
His skin peeled and flayed by lust
A Crow burst out of his pale skinned gut
Suicide offering Lucretia not freedom but limbo
Like one of the four sinners but sinless
Cast into eternal punishment for a crime committed against her
Forever made to remember
To grab at the empty air
The horror of nothingness running through her hand
The Signifier of past something-ness
The emptiness of the repetitive rape
Whilst all else moved around her
Lucretia was held in the flux of this moment
Left Dancing to the tragic and cyclical rhythm of sorrow
2 comments:
you should read Shakespeare's Rape of Lucrece, we studied it and then visiting titian's painting was a revelation. It's interesting that thing you said in another blog about choosing a narrative moment, i think you implied that the painter will always choose the most er momentous incident, it reminded me of lessing's laocoon, i'm sure you know that essay, only do you mean a realist painter will be trying to illustrate a story in in that way? cos obviously there's lots of different ways of 'illustrating', i like your painting by the way, i'd like to see the textures. i dont go in for theory much though, does there need to be so much 'explanation'?
I agree about teory being dangerous in the production of art. I was hoping that this blog was more along the lines of discussion. I see theory as clear and planned ideas which you look to visualise or possibly post production pretentions which are projected onto the work. I was thinking that discussion was more the chance to deconstruct approaches, processes and work produced so hopefully to see where im fucking up and where the work is weak and then to be able to move on and produce better work. tehre of course needs to be periods of instinct creation, but without objective analysis im not sure I can progress.
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