DAVIDGOUGHART

Friday, August 28, 2015

The return of Eris of Troy-the Teutonic Crusade



“Greyface and his followers took the game of playing at life more seriously than they took life itself and were known even to destroy other living beings whose ways of life differed from their own.”
—Malaclypse the Younger,Principia Discordia,
Long term followers of my work may recognize that this one looks remarkably similar to a piece I did way back in 2003. It is in fact a darker, nastier, little ancestor of that original painting.
So why revisit it?
Well, firstly-in the twelve years since it original inception,  I like to think I have learned a thing or three about daubing.
Its a piece that combines the Northern Crusades of the 15th Century-more notably the mass suicide of 4000 Pagans at the fortress of Pilenai, and the Greek story of Eris of Troy.
Eris of course is the Goddess of discord-so named because of her wedding crashing turn at the nuptials of Thetis and Peleus ,tossing golden apples amongst pretty maids  Hera, Athene and Aphrodite and kicking off the Trojan War.
On a personal level,she recalls a period of dark machinations in the past that revisited itself like a festering plague recently, and as such was if not an unwelcome, but timely reminder of the tumult, devastation and chaos that can befall us all, when our guard is lowered.
So be weary of who comes to your wedding.
The piece will be on show at Hyaena gallery through 1st September to 1st October

Sunday, August 2, 2015

Dog eat God


10″ x 10″|Oil on panel
…Or God eat Dog, depending on your preferred perspective.
So what’s it about then?
Its a kind of Ouroboros- one of those rather nice little absurdest pieces,which follows Bruegel’s penchant for painted puns and proverbs. Its also that paradox of creator and destroyer-who is being consumed or biliously ejected? As Artistotle remarked “Whosoever is delighted in solitude is either a wild beast or a god.”
On display August 8th at the Perfect 10 group show at La Bodega gallery.