Kim Onslow

Tom Cardwell - An explanation and analysis of three paintings

 

How the West (Country) was Won (2016)

 

This painting is largely inspired by the customised leather motorcycle jackets worn by members of the rocker subculture (Stuart, 1987; Friedrichs, 2012). I am interested in the ways in which personal identity and allegiances are negotiated within the structures and accepted practices of a subculture, and how these are visually communicated through the form of the jacket. 

 

In undertaking this painting I have been indebted to Horst Friedrichs’ photographic survey of Rockers’ jackets in his book Pride and Glory (2012). Friedrichs’ investigation not only chronicles the jackets as whole articles, but also features a wealth of close-ups and detail shots that reveal the diversity of customisation practices used by Rockers including hand painting, sewing and embellishment with studs, badges and chains, and reveals some of the sub-groups within the Rocker culture, such as Café Racers, vintage denim enthusiasts and fans of particular leather-making traditions, such as Lewis Leathers of London. 

 

Part of my wider project has been to locate patterns of influence between different traditions of customised clothing, both contemporary and historic, and to locate battle jackets within such a network. Thus the customised motorcycle jacket features prominently, as official and ‘outlaw’ bike clubs developed after World War II. There are strong visual links with military patches, which denote allegiance and rank and locate an individual within wider organisational structures. These in turn can be linked to the medieval heraldic tradition, which used emblems in a strict visual code to mark identity through bloodlines and to trace the histories of families through wars and marriages. In another vein, the jackets are also linked to less formal folk traditions such as mummers’ plays and morris dancing, and the Pearly Kings and Queens of London. Contemporary groups that use personal jacket customisation to express loyalties and identities include not only metal fans and bikers but also European football fans, for example. 

 

Process

 

In starting the process of the painting, I first made a watercolour sketch to help me work out my ideas. I then translated this on to canvas, making some minor changes to layout and the exact nature of the details along the way. The first stage of the oil painting was done with mid-tone underpainting in a warm burnt umber. The key idea was for the jacket to be autobiographical, but for a version of myself as I might otherwise have been. It is partly about the idea of projection, idealisation and nostalgic escapism, and also about the way that clothing and appearance can provide the individual with tools to alter or construct the self, to try to project the sort of person one wants to be, regardless of whether one feels it is currently ‘true’. Growing up in rural England, I aspired to the exotic visions of American cool that I saw in media – films, music and literature. So this jacket represents a version of myself that might have been had I lived a different kind of life, in a different kind of country. The motorcycle jacket itself embodies these ideas of freedom, adventure and the myths of the exotic ‘West’. These are contrasted with another kind of nostalgic escapism – that provided by the romantic vision of an idyllic England of days long gone – pre-industrialised, bucolic, charmed – the quasi-mythical kingdom of Wessex that existed until the eleventh century. 

 

The myth of the cowboy

 

A number of artists have made work that explores connections with other people who share their name (for example see Hays, n.d.) I found out about a Wyoming cattle rancher called Thomas Lee Cardwell, who tragically died in 2014 aged 33 – he was almost exactly three years younger than me. I was fascinated by his story, detailed on a family website, a Facebook page and local obituaries. Despite our similar names, close ages and similar family situations, it seemed to me that this Tom Cardwell had lived a life very different from mine. His was the life of the cowboy – riding in rodeos and working on a ranch that had been in his family for three generations. He seemed to embody the very exotic Wild West ideal that had captivated me as a child. I decided to make this Tom Cardwell the central focus of the jacket, with the wild frontier landscape and the horse as symbols of freedom and the mythical primal struggle of humans in a hostile environment that seems embedded in the American national subconscious.

 

The central panel of the jacket in the painting is based on the ace of spades symbol, a popular motif on Rockers’ jackets and in rock music (notably on the logo for Motorhead’s anthem ‘Ace of Spades’). The image within shows two cowboys on horseback against the backdrop

of the mountains Wyoming is famous for. The whole is rendered in the polarised style of pre-industrial woodcut. As well as connecting the scene with the nostalgia of the natural and the handmade, this also echoes the bold and simplified designs (often only in black and white) common on motorcycle jackets and in metal artwork. The word ‘Wyoming’ caps the image, formed from lightning forks in the sky and also styled on the jagged letterforms beloved of metal bands. Around the image are the letters ‘A’ and ‘D’, representing variously ‘anno domini’, ‘art and design’ and the famous monogram of the great medieval German painter and woodcut artist Albrecht Dürer. Beside the central spade shape there are the images of a pistol (with obvious connections to the Wild West, danger, etc.) and a white horse (representing both the horses of the ranchers and the ancient chalk horses found in Wessex). In the panel to the right, a scroll lists places in Wyoming in a manner that emulates the practice by some Rockers of listing places visited on ‘runs’. Thus the connection between location and identity is reinforced. 

 

The connection between the land, a sense of place and personal identity is an important theme in Cormac McCarthy’s ‘Border Trilogy’ (1992/2010, 1994/2010, 1998/2010). These novels chart the lives and adventures of two young cowboys, Billy Parham and John Grady Cole, as they seek to hang on to a frontier life in an America that is rapidly changing. Their love of wild plains and open country leads them to Mexico, where they find something of the romance and wildness that they feel once existed across the United States. In these novels the horse embodies this love for the wild country and cowboy lifestyle, and a sense of personal freedom. Thus I chose to combine my cowboy figure with that of John Grady Cole, and there is a reference to Cole on the left sleeve of the jacket.

 The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

 

The third strand of the cowboy reference of the jacket comes in the form of the character ‘Blondie’, played by Clint Eastwood in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Sergio Leone, 1966). The film forms the third of another trilogy, Leone’s ‘Dollars’ trio, which also includes A Fistful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars More. Now regarded as one of the classics of the ‘Spaghetti Western’ genre, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly epitomises the mythical Wild West, with Eastwood’s character embodying the hard-living, nomadic, taciturn cowboy hero, with rough manners but a good heart. The symbolism for my jacket is appropriate, as it deals with the romantic mythology surrounding the imagery of the Wild West, from the perspective of someone English. 

 

Metallica and the Western

 

During recent tours, the band Metallica have chosen to open their concerts with the climactic final scene from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, in which the three protagonists face one another at the cemetery where the gold they are seeking is apparently buried. On some occasions, the band have even played a cover version of Ennio Morricone’s haunting score from the scene live over the movie clip. Since the 1990s, the band have returned several times to the theme of the Western and associated ideas of freedom and individuality. Their music has increasingly featured influences from Mexican mariachi and film scores such as Morricone’s. Because of these connections to the theme of the cowboy, as well as my long-time fondness for Metallica’s music (the ‘Black Album’ was one of the first metal records I owned), I have included several references to songs by Metallica on the jacket.

 

Metallica’s eponymous album (also know as ‘The Black Album’) was the band’s fifth studio album, released in 1991 (for a discussion of the cover artwork for this album see chapter 5). The album deals repeatedly with themes relating to the Western genre, and with ideas of freedom, the nomadic traveller and a patriotic appreciation for the country of America, that were not in such evidence on previous records. I chose to focus particularly on three tracks that deal lyrically and musically with these themes, particularly ‘The Unforgiven’, ‘Wherever I May Roam’ and ‘Don’t Tread on Me’.

 

With an obvious reference to the Western movie of the same name (Eastwood, 1992), the track ‘The Unforgiven’ tells the story of an individual’s struggle against a harsh world and an oppressive system of authority. It also deals with more existential questions, beginning with the lines ‘New blood joins this earth / and quickly he’s subdued / through constant pain disgrace / the young boy learns their rules’ (Hammett, Hetfield and Ulrich, 1991). The track opens with a haunting guitar solo, with a distinct musical reference to Morricone’s Western scores discussed earlier. The life of the protagonist in this track is hard and unrelenting, as he struggles to exist in a cruel world. This narrative of hardship and struggle against the land echoes the themes of McCarthy’s ‘Border’ trilogy (1992–1998/2010) and John Steinbeck’s

novels, particularly The Grapes of Wrath (1939), which centres around the tragic life of the protagonist Tom Joad (immortalised once more in a song by Bruce Springsteen (1995)).

 

‘Wherever I May Roam’ is a hymn to the life of a nomadic, rootless traveller, as they journey through the American landscape. The lyrics make this clear from the outset, beginning: ‘And the earth becomes my bride / I am stripped of all but pride / so in her I do confide / gives me all I need’ (Hetfield and Ulrich, 1991). Later the narrator embraces the insults given to him by society: ‘Rover, wanderer, nomad, vagabond / call me what you will’ (Hetfield and Ulrich, 1991). I have featured this line on the crest towards the bottom of the jacket, which takes the form of an eagle (an enduring symbol of freedom), with a skull replacing the head (in part a reference to Pushead’s many artworks for Metallica’s album covers that invariably feature skulls). The right sleeve of the jacket features an embroidered patch with a gravestone bearing another lyric from the song: ‘Carved upon my stone / “My body lies yet still I roam” ’ (Hetfield and Ulrich, 1991). This theme of the wandering outcast is prevalent amongst traditional folk songs, particularly in the blues tradition. Standards such as ‘The Singer’ narrate tales of travelling musicians who are not accepted anywhere. 

 

The third track I have focused on for the jacket is ‘Don’t Tread on Me’, about the War of Independence (figure 6.8). The lyrics to the song begin with the couplet ‘Liberty or death, what we so proudly hail / Once you provoke her, rattling of her tail’, and the chorus contains the lines ‘So be it / Threaten no more / To secure peace is to prepare for war’ (Hetfield and Ulrich, 1991). The latter line refers to the Latin motto ‘Si vis pacem, para bellum’ (‘If you want peace, prepare [for] a war’) (Don’t Tread on Me (Metallica song), 2016). Additionally, the introduction to the song includes a musical phrase from the song ‘America’, from the musical West Side Story (Don’t Tread on Me (Metallica song), 2016). Apparently, the flag of the Culpeper Minutemen (a close variant of the Gadsden flag) hung in Metallica’s recording studio whilst they recorded the ‘Black Album’ (Fricke, 1991, p. 6).  

 

Wessex

 

As well as the Western references, the jacket features iconography relating to the old English kingdom of Wessex Whilst Wessex does still refer to a geographical area in the south and south-west of England, it has not been a separate entity for around 1,000 years. The image of Wessex as a quasi-mythical land is persistent, however, and is often invoked by those interested in the myths and history of the south-west (also known as the West Country). This area includes most of the places where I grew up, so I personally feel a connection and sense of identity with Wessex in some ways. As a teenager I thought the rural places I lived in were boring and mundane, and I longed for the exotic – often embodied for me by American culture. As I got older, however, I began to understand more of the history of the places where I lived and developed a nostalgia of a different sort, for the mythical images conjured up by the folklore of these lands (such as that surrounding places like Stonehenge, Avebury and Glastonbury). To this end the jacket features a patch commemorating the ancient stone circles of Stonehenge and Avebury (the stones of these monoliths corresponding to the tombstone of the cowboy on the other sleeve), as well as a scroll listing places found in Wessex, some of which I had close connections to whilst growing up. The flag of Wessex features a wyvern, a mythical creature similar to a dragon. I therefore included a wyvern patch on one sleeve of the jacket, and another on one of the brasses which hang at the bottom of the back panel.

 

The other character referenced on the jacket is the fourteenth-century English revolutionary leader Wat Tyler, who led the Peasants’ Revolt in 1381. Tyler opposed King Richard II, but was ultimately killed by the king’s soldiers at Smithfield in London (Wat Tyler and the Peasants’ Revolt, n.d.). There are suggestions that Tyler’s original surname was ‘Helier’ (Wat Tyler, 2016), which is very similar to my mother’s family name of Helyar. This nominal connection seemed to work for the theme of the jacket, and I chose Tyler as another figure who, whilst historic, has also taken on mythical standing. If the cowboy figure represents the lure of the exotic and the myths of the Old West, Tyler here stands for a nostalgic vision of ‘Olde Englande’, a William Blake-like pre-industrial idyll which gives the mundanity of my childhood connection with something ancient and exciting. 

 

Summary

 

In creating this jacket (or painting of a jacket), I have tried to describe the life of another version of myself – a version that might have been, but perhaps could never be. As well as celebrating my namesake, the Wyoming cowboy Tom Cardwell, it also explores ways in which identity is described in relation to the landscape in popular culture. This is echoed in the decorative practices that enable motorcycle jackets and battle jackets to record the histories and identities (often linked to place) of the riders who wear them. 

 

Kulturgeist II (Flag of the Republic of NWOBHM) (2017)

 

Introduction

 

The intention of this painting is to explore the historic connections between heavy metal, subcultural customisation, and national identity as expressed for example in the structures of flags, heraldry and military insignia. Here the personally selected arrangements of battle jackets are conflated with the more rigidly structured form of the standard. The concept was initially inspired by the handmade Jolly Roger flags of submariners, such as the Jolly Roger for HMS Trenchant (c.1943) held by Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust, which was included in the Tate Britain exhibition British Folk Art (Kenny, McMillan and Myrone, 2014). 

 

The use of hand sewing together with the DIY construction evident in the ‘Jolly Roger’ has a resonance with the construction of battle jackets by metal fans. There is also a parallel with the nature of the symbols, notably the skull emblem and the colours black, white and red. The structure of the national flag is combined with a series of visual references to British heavy metal, painting history and popular culture.

 

Union Flag

 

The structure of the flag in the painting is based on the Union Flag of Great Britain. The exploration of this flag as a post-colonial symbol (such as in the work of Jonathan Parsons) has been discussed in chapter 5. The choice of this flag was in part to make association with the resurgence of heavy metal music in Britain in the late 1970s and early 1980s. This movement became known as the ‘New Wave of British Heavy Metal’ (NWOBHM) (Berelian, 2005, p. 251; Weinstein, 2000, p. 44) that is referenced in the title of the painting. The intersecting bars of the Union Flag (vertical, horizontal, diagonal) are used to connect the various images and symbols that populate the painting, in the manner of patches deployed on a jacket. The colours of the flag have been altered – the blue/grey hues of the field evoking the variegated shades of denim. In the course of making this painting, the symbolism of the flag also became inevitably connected for me with the uncertainty of Britain’s relationship to the rest of the world following the EU Referendum vote. The idea of Britain as an isolated

island began to emerge in the popular consciousness, and so this painting reflects those associations too, through the deployment of the most recognised British national symbol. 

 

‘Kulturgeist’

 

The term ‘kulturgeist’ (translated as ‘spirit of culture’) refers to a fictional band that I contrived in the course of making some earlier artworks (Cardwell, 2014, 2014–2016). Tim Lower describes the term ‘kulturgeist’ as ‘conceptualizing expressed permutations in culturally and socially shared awareness patterns, especially as these permutations both reflect and vary with shared time (the zeitgeist) and place (the ortgeist)’ (Lower, 2010). I chose this term both for these connotations and references to systems of culture, and also because it sounds like a plausible metal band name. There is precedent for referencing a fictional band in the artist Jamie Shovlin’s work featuring an invented German glam rock band called ‘Lustfaust’ (Shovlin, 2006). For me, the idea of the band ‘Kulturgeist’ (along with a second invented band called ‘Kunstkammer’) conflates ideas of metal culture and associated visual themes with histories of art and painting. Whilst these various traditions might often be polarised in terms of their placement within cultural structures, there are many overlaps in terms of the themes they invoke (such as the romantic interest in the gothic and sublime, for example). Indeed, heavy metal sleeve artwork has often made reference to art history, as the survey by the website heavymusicartwork.com demonstrates (heavymusicartwork, 2016).

 

The central motif of the painting is the ‘kulturgeist’ emblem – a palette with a skull face and crossed paintbrushes. This connects the ‘Jolly Roger’ emblem with the idea of the painter’s craft and associations of art history, in a somewhat light-hearted manner. It also relates to the theme of the vanitas. Below this emblem is the legend ‘Ars Longa’, which comes from the Latin translation of the ancient Greek motto ‘Ars Longa, Vita Brevis’ (art endures but life is short), attributed to Hippocrates. This inscription often featured in traditional vanitas paintings.

 

On the left of the palette emblem is an image of a classical statue of a philosopher. This again connects with ideas of antiquity and classical culture (in a popular pastiche) but also with the bearded mystic or sage (bearded artist or philosopher figures have featured prominently in the work of a number of contemporary British figurative painters such as Nigel Cooke and Ryan

Mosley). This image is based on a drawing I made in 2013 of a Roman statue of Hercules (c.AD 69–78) in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum in New York City This image also links with the interest within heavy metal in mythology and warrior heroes, as well as with beards and long hair as symbols of wild masculinity (Weinstein, 2000, p. 65).

 

On the right of the central palette emblem there is a cycle helmet seen from above. This echoes visually the image of the skull (indeed, the cycle helmet is a sort of exo-skull), and the three motifs on the horizontal axis of the painting (the bearded portrait bust, the palette and the helmet) all emphasise each other formally as they all use the oval shape. The link between the skull and the helmet is also reminiscent of Ricky Swallow’s works.

 

Nautical imagery

 

A number of the symbols on the painting refer to nautical traditions. As well as the links to the ‘Jolly Roger’ discussed above, the obvious reference here is the sailing ship image. Seafaring features prominently in British history, especially in the days of colony and empire, and imagery connected with the sea figures large in the nation’s art and psyche (for example in the paintings of J. M. W. Turner and the novels of Joseph Conrad). My current studio in south-east London lies very close to the historic naval base at Greenwich, and the trade docks at Wapping and Charlton. The Thames and its estuary which runs out through Kent were pivotal in Britain’s sea power, and I wanted to connect these histories with a new kind of cultural export (or colonialism?) in the case of metal. The NWOBHM saw British bands make a significant impact on the global metal scene of the 1980s. American bands such as Metallica have often cited the influence of NWOBHM bands such as Mayhem, Venom and Diamond Head (Berelian, 2005, p. 251; Weinstein, 2000, p. 44). There is an even more explicit connection between metal and nautical references in the case of the subgenre known as ‘pirate metal’. This is a light-hearted contemporary metal scene that combines heavy music styles with none-too-subtle references to a distinctly theatrical version of pirate folklore. Whilst the genre can be said to originate with the German band Running Wild in 1987 (Myers, 2009), it currently has a popular following with bands such as Scotland’s Alestorm, and Swashbuckle from New Jersey. Other metal bands have on occasion used nautical subjects in lyrics and artwork, notably Iron Maiden and the musical arrangement of Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Mastodon’s concept album Leviathan, which was based on Melville’s Moby-Dick (Myers, 2009). 

 

Christian iconography

 

Whilst heavy metal has long been associated with controversy, dark spirituality and the occult (Hjelm, 2015, pp. 498–501; Weinstein, 2000, pp. 258–263), it perhaps unsurprisingly has repeatedly referenced Christian subjects and iconography, even if in a negative sense (for example, the use of inverted crosses and pentagrams, or the focus on Christian subjects by occult-influenced bands such as Marduk’s album Romans 5:12 (see Naylor Davis, 2015)). Arguably, heavy metal culture has not just reacted against Christianity, but has been actively shaped by it. The interest in all things spiritual, with a particular focus on heavenly battles, angels and demons, the apocalypse and Armageddon, is unusual in contemporary youth-oriented music subcultures. There are even subgenres such as ‘Christian death metal’ (also known as ‘white metal’) that continue to generate controversy on both sides of the spectrum amongst metal fans (Moberg, 2013). On a more immediately visual level, metal artwork continues to make extensive use of Christian imagery, whether through the iconography of the cross (or its inverted counterpart), the use of historic artworks with biblical themes mentioned above (heavymusicartwork.com, 2016) or the commonly favoured ‘blackletter’ variant typefaces which originate with medieval German protestant publications (Coggins, 2015). The somewhat parochial version of Christianity that for a time characterised British religious life may seem a far cry from these kinds of iterations, yet the two cultures seem to me more closely tied than some would like to admit. Thus it seemed fitting in tracing the connections of heavy metal with a particularly British sensibility to include some visual links to Christian culture.

 

Military insignia

 

The influence of military emblems and insignia (figure 6.18) on heavy metal has been discussed in chapter 4. I wanted to pick up on this in the Kulturgeist II painting, combining heavy metal band logos with military style patches. Once more, this extends the theme of a post-colonial perspective on British Empire, power and influence, and considers in which metal music often appropriates the imagery of masculine power (perhaps unsurprising in view of its traditional white male blue collar fan base (Weinstein, 2007)).

 

Summary

 

The painting Kulturgeist II (Flag of the Republic of NWOBHM) (2017) explores the important contribution of British culture to global heavy metal music. In drawing together a range of references to British history, colonial power, military strength, religious imagery and the history of painting, the complex webs of influence between ostensibly diverse sources begin to emerge. The use of the potent symbol of the Union Flag underlines the contemporary uncertainty about the role of Britain in today’s world and recognises the importance of national identity for many aspects of metal music. The ways in which these values are communicated through the visual aspects of metal in the battle jacket (and its personal customisation) are connected to ancient customs of displaying allegiance through flags, coats of arms and uniforms.

 

Mediator (2017)

 

Introduction

 

This painting shows a chasuble, or priestly garment, decorated with a range of imagery relating to metal and art history. The central portrait is based on a painting by Spanish romantic painter Salvator Rosa, as well as on the famous self-portrait of Albrecht Dürer. There are also visual allusions to a Christ figure, a connection that might be made with the original self-portraits. Monstrous creatures from Rosa’s paintings populate the lower left-hand side of the robe, whilst those on the right are from one of Dürer’s etchings. The scenes are underpinned by a stout tree that spreads its branches across the garment, as a visual device signalling connections and heritage. The tree trunk features heraldic motifs including the skull palette of the ‘Kulturgeist’ band as well as a Norse helmet and crossed spanners suggesting bikers or blue collar work. The phrase ‘Romance is Dead’ is partially spelled out across the shoulders of the garment, although this could also be taken as a reference to psychedelic rockers The Grateful Dead, along with the rainbow background to the robe. The phrase at the bottom is from Rosa’s painting and translates as ‘Be silent, unless what you have to say is better than silence’.

 

Chasuble

 

A chasuble is a decorated robe or over-garment worn by priests in the Roman Catholic, High Anglican, Lutheran and Methodist churches when celebrating the Eucharist (Holy Communion). It is thought to have developed from types of functional daily clothing worn in the world of the early church, and to have eventually taken on a decorative ceremonial nature to keep it separate from other clothing that may have been work-stained (Knight, 2012). I chose the chasuble as the focus for this painting as it is part of the rich history of decorative, ornamented clothing with a powerful symbolic and ceremonial function. In these senses it forms part of a heritage and tradition of which battle jackets are a more recent example. The figure of the priest with their symbolic role in acting as a mediator, channelling emotions and embodying a particular locus of beliefs, is in some ways similar to that of the metal musician. The latter also serves to reify the belief structures of their audience, and acts as a mediator between the audience and the intensity of the live concert experience (Weinstein, 2000, p. 59). For many metal fans, the musicians represent a position to which they aspire, at least in theory. Professional bands represent the deepest lifestyle commitment to metal, particularly if they are of the more extreme genres. 

 

If the metal musician can be likened to the priest performing the Eucharist, the metaphor might be extended to the painter. The particularly romantic vision of the painter as a spiritual, almost shamanistic figure persists in Western cultural consciousness, even if in reality it has been somewhat debunked. In this image, the painter is in receipt of hidden knowledge, in touch with profound truths about humanity, an otherworldly genius whose skills might have been won in a Faustian bargain in exchange for the quiet happiness of ‘normal’ life. Thus the chasuble here is populated with the image of the Spanish romantic painter Salvator Rosa, along with figures from his paintings and those of Albrecht Dürer. 

 

The chasuble also has a personal symbolism for me in that my father was an Anglican vicar, and the particular ceremonies and vestments of his office have childhood associations for me. In this way the symbolic worlds of the church and heavy metal subculture are powerfully linked in my mind. 

 

Salvator Rosa

 

The central figure in the painting Mediator is taken from Salvator Rosa’s famous work Philosophy of 1645. This painting impressed me from my earliest visits to the National

Gallery as a teenager. The detached, cool regard with which the subject considers the viewer gives the painting a mysterious air and seems to embody the popular image of the romantic visionary artist. When I first saw this painting I was struck by the similarity it bears to photographs of metal musicians, even down to the sombre, clouded sky in the background, heightening the brooding menace of the work. The possible connections to metal imagery go further, in that Rosa is well known for painting monstrous and occult subjects, such as Witches at their Incantations (1646), also in the National Gallery. 

 

The phrase from the sign at the base of Rosa’s Philosophy reads ‘Aut tace / Aut loquere meliora silentio’ (‘Be silent, unless what you have to say is better than silence’). This phrase features in my own painting, across the bottom of the chasuble.

 

Christ / Albrecht Dürer

 

The painter figure in Mediator also refers to Albrecht Dürer’s self-portrait of 1500 in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich. As well as prefiguring the modern-day photographic portraits of metal musicians (particular resemblance is struck here by the flowing hair and beard, the unwavering stare and dark background), this portrait also refers visually to popular portraits of Christ (Bailey, 1995), such as Hans Memling’s fifteenth-century Christ Giving His Blessing. This resemblance provides another link to the idea of the musician or painter as priest; indeed for Christians Christ is the ultimate priest or mediator between humanity and God (1 Timothy 2:5, Hebrews 4:15). Thus the Christ image underpins the symbolism of my painting, and connects the diverse references to traditions of metal subculture, romanticism in painting, church tradition and the priestly figure of the painter as mediator. 

 

Tree

 

The tree image provides structure to the decoration of the chasuble in my painting, and serves to visually connect the diverse elements. The tree is itself symbolic, referring to the histories and hierarchies recorded in family trees and heraldic charts. Traditional chasuble designs often feature a similar structure in the form of a cross or Y-shape. The tree is a common heraldic motif, with various symbolism depending on the variety and style of depiction. The tree is also a rich metaphor in the Bible, with diverse uses such as for the people of God as ‘oaks of righteousness’ (Isaiah 61:3), for the idea of Christians being rooted in Christ (John

15:5), as a prefiguring of Christ as a tree of shelter and protection (Ezekiel 17:23, 31:6), and as a place of curse like a gallows (2 Samuel 18:10, Galatians, 3:13). The tree is closely linked to the image of the cross that is central to Christianity. The medieval idea of the ‘tree of life’ uses the tree form as a metaphor to connect the events of Christ’s life with the eternal communion of believers and was used as an aid to devotion (Hollis, 2006). In my painting the tree acts both as symbol and as a reference to ideas of connections and histories 

being traced by the branches. 

 

Other characters

 

On the right of the chasuble in my painting are a number of monstrous creatures based on those in Salvator Rosa’s paintings, such as The Temptation of St. Anthony (1645) and Witches at their Incantations (1646). Facing these creatures on the left side of the painting are a bearded figure, an angel, an owl and praying hands, all taken from Albrecht Dürer’s paintings and woodcuts. These characters serve both to extend the references to the two painters discussed above, and to represent the idea of heavenly battles between forces of good and evil, a common theme in Christian narrative as well as in metal lyrics and artwork. 

 

The central trunk of the tree is decorated with heraldic motifs including the crossed spanners of biker culture and the palette skull logo of the invented band ‘Kulturgeist’. Around the band encircling the bearded portrait at the top are emblems associated with the vanitas tradition in painting. The large lettering on either side of the portrait (partially occluded) spells out ‘Romance is dead’ – leaving a question mark over the veracity or legacy of the romantic movement in culture. The role of the spiritual in the materialistic world of late capitalism is often called into question although, if anything, religious belief worldwide appears to be on the rise once more (Micklethwait and Wooldridge, 2010).

 

Summary

 

The painting Mediator (2017) combines a number of references to painting history, Christian iconography, romanticism and medieval heraldry, linking all of these to the historic references found in heavy metal artwork. The romantic image of the artist-genius is conflated with the moody portraits of metal musicians common to the genre, which in turn reference the image of Christ popular in medieval and Renaissance portraiture. The importance of long

hair and beards in metal music (Weinstein, 2000, p. 65) echoes the way these devices feature in the portraits discussed above. The figure in the painting combines the roles of priest, painter, musician, mystic and Christ figure, showing how these various cultural constructs inform and influence one another. The use of the tree image as the background to the garment extends the reference to biblical iconography, as well as to heraldic trees of lineage.

 

As a richly decorative and symbolic garment, the chasuble has a direct link with the customised style and functions of the battle jacket, even if they come from very different cultural traditions. As has been argued, the spheres of heavy metal and Christian tradition may overlap far more than is often assumed.

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Bibliography

 

Bailey, M. (1995) Dürer. London: Phaidon Press.

Berelian, E. (2005). The Rough Guide to Heavy Metal. London: Rough Guides Ltd.

Coggins, O. (2015) ‘Experience, Practice, Writing: A Methodological Outline of Drone Metal Research’, Modern Heavy Metal conference 2015. Aalto University, Helsinki, 8–12 June. Aalto University, pp. 354–365.

Cardwell, T. (2014) Kulturgeist [Embroidery and acrylic paint on denim jacket]. Collection of the artist.

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