What connects us to the old masters is psychological truth.
In my new series of paintings, I imagine my way into the scene presented in masterpieces by Caravaggio, Guercino and others. Taking on the role of one of the actors in the drama, and with a modern, graphic styling, I focus purely on the expressive gestures of hands in order to convey the essential meaning of these critical moments of doubt and choice.
Christ beckons gently to Matthew, whose immediate response, as his right hand still holds onto a forgotten coin, is an amazed 'Who, me?'
Judas flings away the thirty pieces of silver in his agony of longing to take back what he has done.
Thomas reaches out in doubt to an open armed Christ, as Peter looks on in appalled anticipation of a miracle.
By isolating the hands in a brilliantly illuminated space, the universal and timeless significance of their interplay emerges as the viewer meditates on their meaning. The point of view is of one of the participants but the sensibility is entirely contemporary.
