The Architect's House
2009
Oil on linen
282 x 400 x 5 cm (111 x 157 1/2 in.)
In The Architect’s House (2009), a man, (presumably the architect), the centrepiece of the painting, has been killed by a bullet to the eye. Slumped in a chair, he smiles, surrounded by other figures, including the actors who argue amongst themselves or engage in happy exchanges with the film crew.
The scene captures a moment from a break in the filming of a police drama. In this first painting in the “fictions” series, which sets out to explore the notion of disaster, Wateridge focuses most of our visual attention on this central figure who oscillates strangely between life and death, tragedy and comedy, real and unreal, photographic truth and pictorial fiction. Here the viewer takes the position of the director, and from a distance they are able to closely observe every detail of the static scene, deciding on the intrigue of the past and the intrigue to come.
The painting The Architect’s House, part of the Pinault Collection, was presented at the Palazzo Grassi at the "Le Monde vous appartient" (“The World Belongs to You”) exhibition (2011-2012).
The scene captures a moment from a break in the filming of a police drama. In this first painting in the “fictions” series, which sets out to explore the notion of disaster, Wateridge focuses most of our visual attention on this central figure who oscillates strangely between life and death, tragedy and comedy, real and unreal, photographic truth and pictorial fiction. Here the viewer takes the position of the director, and from a distance they are able to closely observe every detail of the static scene, deciding on the intrigue of the past and the intrigue to come.
The painting The Architect’s House, part of the Pinault Collection, was presented at the Palazzo Grassi at the "Le Monde vous appartient" (“The World Belongs to You”) exhibition (2011-2012).
Exhibitions
Photo: Tessa Angus, All Visual Arts
