Selfportrait as a Cardinal

Selfportrait as a Cardinal
80x100
2013

Cainophobia

Cainophobia

42x60 cm

2013 

Glossophobia

Glossophobia

42x60 cm

2013 

Hypochondria

Hypochondria

42x60 cm

2012

Claustrophobia

Claustrophobia

50x50 cm

2012 

St Stephen

St Stephen

50x50 cm

Giclée print on canvas
2012 

model: Steve Williams

Saint  Stephen  was the first martyr of the New Testament.
The protomartyr of Christianity, is venerated as a saint in the Anglican, Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Orthodox Churches.
Stephen's name is derived from the Greek language Stephanos, meaning "crown". 
Traditionally, Stephen is invested with a crown of martyrdom.
He is often depicted in art with stones and the martyrs' palm.
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The Martyrs Chronicles

The Martyrs Chronicles
Portraits of Saints and Sinners  

Exhibition runs: 12th - 21st Dec 2012
Location: Gallery & Project Space Great Western Studios

www.greatwesternstudios.com

A martyr is somebody who suffers persecution and death for refusing to renounce, or accept, a belief or cause, usually religious. In its purest form, martyrdom is a voluntary, conscious, and altruistic readiness to suffer and offer one's life for a cause. The Christian martyr seeks certain death. Islamic tradition gives first place to a soldier dying in a holy war, or jihad, who aimed to defeat an adversary without, necessarily, losing his own life. Jewish tradition assigns the honour not only to those who affirm the faith against threat, but to victims such as those of the Holocaust, who were not given the choice.

Martyrdom is a religio-political act of conflict between social groups. Typically, the weaker of the antagonists produces martyrs.

This series of portraits reinterprets Saints and Martyrs iconography in a modern and sacrilegious view that blends sacred and profane. Where the sado-masochist leads to a new form of martyrdom and the pain is the way to reach the pleasure of the beatification.

Pain, lust, death and salvation are the main themes of these digital portraits.

Further information:

events@greatwesternstudios.com / t. 020 7221 0100

St Lucilla

St Lucilla

50x50 cm

Giclée print on canvas
2012 

model: Medea Teixeira

Saint Lucilla was the daughter of Nemesius, a deacon.Lucilla was blind from her birth, and was taken by her father to be cured and baptized by St. Stephen, the Bishop of Rome. Many others were converted and baptized on account of the miracle. Learning of this deed, Emperor Valerian ordered Nemesius to be imprisoned and Lucilla to be given to a wicked woman, named Maxima. However, after a few days, Nemesius and Lucilla were taken without trial to the temple of Mars in the Via Appia in Rome, and there Lucilla's throat was cut, before her father's eyes.

St Comasia

St Comasia

50x50 cm

Giclée print on canvas
2012 

model: Lana Durjava

Saint Comasia was a roman martyr probably lived between the II and IV century. Her body was transferred from the catacombs of St. Agnes in Via Nomentana in 1645 to Martina Franca, in the Basilica of St. Martin. When the sacred convoy arrived in Martina Franca, an heavy rain started and the rainstorm was so strong that the procession was stopped and forced to take refuge in the chapel.A similar event occurred in 1714, in Naples during a procession with her relics. The Saint was by far '600 always invoked in times of drought. The last time that the bones of the Saint were traveling in procession through the streets of the country was on July 2000 and even in that occasion a storm happened.An old saying, still used today, about the connection betwen the rain and the Saint is: "a 'ssot u curpe de Santa Cumasie", it is mentioned during an heavy rain and it means: "they have dragged out the body of Saint Comasia"

St Catherine of Alexandria

St Catherine of Alexandria

50x50 cm

Giclée print on canvas
2012

model: Tara Byakko

Also known as Saint Catherine of the Wheel is, according to tradition, a Christian saint and virgin, who was martyred in the early 4th century at the hands of the pagan emperor Maxentius.

The emperor condemned Catherine to death on the spiked breaking wheel, an instrument of torture. The wheel was miraculously destroyed, however, in answer to St. Catherine's prayer, and so Maxentius had to settle for beheading her.

In art  She can usually be easily recognised as she is crowned, as befits her rank as a princess, and often holds a segment of her wheel or a sword as an attribute.