Lot 199: GEORGE SHAW

GEORGE SHAW B.1966 SCENES FROM THE PASSION: THE ROPE signed, titled and dated 2004 on the reverse humbrol enamel on board 43 by 53cm.; 17 by 21in.

Wilkinson Gallery, London, where acquired by the present owner in February 2005

The present work belongs to an ongoing series of paintings entitled Scenes from the Passion, which Shaw began on a return to his parents' house in Tile Hill, a housing estate on the edge of woodland in Coventry. Exploring his past, Shaw photographed the landscape of his childhood. From these images he carefully constructs his compositions in a unique style of painting which employs humbrol enamel paint (used in model-making) – a laborious process which produces a seductive, glossy and highly detailed finish. The title 'Scenes from the Passion' is an obvious reference to the suffering and death of Christ, but Shaw's choice of it is also an allusion to the melodrama often associated with adolescence, while he undercuts this with the quiet, melancholic mood of his pictures.