Madonna of the Television painting by Chris Shaw

On April 24, 2010, in Art, Paintings, by Chris Shaw

Madonna of the Television (2010) painting by Chris Shaw

Madonna of the Television painting by Chris Shaw

Acrylic on Canvas, 2010

I love Botticelli.  When I was in Italy I had the opportunity to spend some time looking at the originals,  everything about his paintings is influential to me.  As an artist, sometimes you don’t want to appropriate from a true master,  no matter how good you may be, they can make you look bad.  This painting is based on Botticelli’s Madonna of the Pomegranite.  The original is truly a masterpiece.  Perhaps what I like the most is how Boticelli was obviously into painting beautiful women,  even if it was the Madonna,  immaculate mother of Jesus.  He got in a bit of hot water over this later.  If you look further into the painting,  it contains a lot of hidden geometric & Masonic symbolism,  everything from pyramids and the All-Seeing Eye, to circles in 7 segments.

Madonna of the Television (2010) composition

I had no intention of recreating a Botticelli,  but I did want to borrow the form and composition to make a new, stripped-down image. I substituted the original baby Jesus with an analog television, and painted the whole thing on a metallic gold ground with a deep amber glaze.  This painting is also designed to work in a UV light environment.

Madonna of the Television (2010) blacklight detail

Madonna of the Television (2010) under various lighting

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