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The late 1990's gALLery / dRAWing
note: "The Late Nineties Gallery" have been separated into two wings of which this is "The dRAWing Gallery". To return to the "Lobby of Late Nineties Gallery Texts" click here. To view the "PAINtings in the Late Nineties Gallery click here.
| Dysfunctional
Box - Alms Box |
1997 |
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"I
did these drawings on a paper covered cardboard box which was part of
the exhibition "Across Borders" at Artspace / The Strike Three
Gallery, Peterborough, Canada in 1997. I was asked by Canadian Artist
Jamelie Hassan to create a container to hold / house her contribution
to the catalogue for this exhibition. I wanted to create a box which
spoke of the notion of needing and reflect on previous times when the
needy were still forced to beg for Alms. After reading William Blake's
poem "Holy Thursday" in "Songs of Innocence and of Experience"
I was inspired to create an "Alms Box" which might have been
used by the destitute children described in Blake's poem. It also reflects
on the notion of borders but not of national, cultural or geographical
borders but rather borders of class, society and health. The title "Dysfunctional Alms Box" gets its name because the hole, for were money can be placed inside it, has been cut into the bottom. Subsequently, when the catalogue materials stored inside it, or money if it were used to beg, they would all spill out of if the box is opened right-side-up down. Thank you, Jamelie Hassan for this opportunity to express my sentiments through my art. |
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| were we totally in the dark it would mean the complete absence of light |
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| Study
after For the Sake of my Art and my Loved Ones, I will Gladly Endure to the End! |
1999 | |
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"I
believe this drawing speaks for itself. I am reminded now just how true
the title of this work was to me at the time. We cling to hope and love
(and not always are own) and it gives us the motivation to continue,
even in the most desperate and desolate of times. To those who love
me thank you for enduring with me. This drawing served as a study after
the watercolour painting on the right: which preceded it by 2 years.
(To read and see more about this painting please visit the Late Nineties Gallery - Paintings by using one of the links on this page.) |
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| sometimes in the darkness we can and must see or find the glimmer of another's light |
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| Various
Drawings using Teutonic and Norse Themes ink on paper |
1999 |
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| in my house of pain there was no light | |||
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| and as I entered what I thought was my darkest hour | |||
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| it suddenly got darker - much, much darker | |||
| The
above drawings were created during one of the most difficult periods
of my short life, a period of confusion, deep depression and loss. Weighed down by despondency, I recluse myself into my studio to feast on my depression alone. Pulling away from my loved ones and covering myself in a shroud of misery, I began to draw what I knew best - pain, sweet pain - a commodity of which I lacked little of. It wasn't until I felt that I was being consumed by the monsters of consternation and all was lost, that I reached out from my hiding place for any kind of help. I should have looked for help sooner! My arrogance and some moribund fear that this economy of bitter melancholy was somehow all the world had to offer anyway. I staggered further from the path of light into a morass of shadows and gloom. I woke each day to the mantra that "The world was indeed a dark place inhabited by foo....... me!" I was buoyed by a torrent from the veil of tears of my derision, until it reached up and threatened to swallow my very soul in the abyss. In my darkest hour, I cried for help and found it through medicine, therapy, action and love and in that order. The darkest hour is indeed before the dawn. |
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| the light shines in the darkness but the darkness has not understood it |
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| To
Have and To Hold in Sickness and in Health |
1999 | |||||||
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This
Stone Lithography was created at the invitation of the Art Department
of H.B. Beal Secondary School in London, Canada. H.B. Beal Technical
School as it was called in my youth was where I studied art as a young
artist. I was asked to lead a workshop around the making of a print
with the senior students in the Art Dept. The print would then be sold
to the public and the revenues used to assist the Art Dept. in its financial
needs.
This
print originates from an earlier drawing which was later painted on
the skin of my Bodhrán Drum and then expanded into this large
print. I think the this works speaks for itself other than to say that
which I have said a hundred times before on this website and that is
that pain informs joy and visa-versa making us completely human. So
to then do marriages reflect these same sentiments in the up and down
flux of relationships. To have and to hold in sickness and in health
is of course a part of the marriage vows in (English) western cultures.
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| "sometimes you got to kick at the darkness to make it bleed daylight" bruce cockburn |
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| see the paintings from the Late Nineties by clicking here | ||||||||
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| please click any of the above images to advance to that section or gallery | ||||||||
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| © Gerard Pas | |
