So this is one of the biggest paintings I’ve done so far. It is titled “Sacra Conversazione” which means Sacred Conversation in Italian. I’ve been really lucky to spend time in Venice over multiple years and there’s a Church there called San Zaccaria and in it there is a beautiful Bellini painting. It’s in its original place, unlike a lot of paintings that are now in museums, this is in an altar in a church.
It's a beautiful painting and I’ve been looking at it for years on and off. I decided when I got home most recently that I wanted to make a painting that was based on that piece. What I liked about that painting is that even though there are many people in it, none of them were actually making eye contact. It's a very quiet, thoughtful painting. So, when I got back to my studio, I used my muses which I have collected over time and which I use as my stand ins for people, to set up a similar composition.
I have a huge collection of sticks in my studio and I set them up in a way that I can anthropomorphize them to create a scene. I also use them for their patterns which I love. And I’ve often chosen them because they have a pattern that I just love. As the muses get older, they change color and I love to see that too.
I paint from life but I’m not trying to recreate a natural object, these are my stand ins for people and feelings. I think about artists like Morandi, who had a small collection of objects he painted for his whole life.
