‘These fragments I have shored against my ruins'
(T.S. Elliot The Waste Land)

These paintings are taken from fragments of eighteenth century paintings that evoke an Arcadian scene or pleasurable existence (Fétes galantes). The original paintings are very beautiful as surfaces but now seem very alien to our modern sensibility or taste.
I have chosen to focus on scenes that are ambiguous or disturbing. The pleasure of looking and observing, flirting and seduction can give way to violence and coercion. The status of these paintings as Art often obscures these darker narratives.
The story of Diana is a powerful example of how ‘looking’ is a form of violation. (the divine huntress is seen by the mortal Achteon. As punishment he is transformed into a stag and torn apart by his own hounds)
My ‘damaged’ paintings suggest an attempt to reconstruct (an impossible task) this lost arcadia*.

(*The possibility of meaning within contemporary painting)