Breslin Fine Arts, Inc.
 Contemporary art & design

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#15, 12"x12" oil on panel
#6, 12"x12" oil on panel
#11, 12"x12" oil on panel
#14, 12"x12" oil on panel

David Baggarly

My work is about intersections, often, the intersections of opposites or distinct differences. The divine with the human ;
"darkness and light" ; the ancient with the modern; abstract painting concerns with early representational/narrative painting concerns,..The combinations, ironies, and juxtapositions are what and where we live. The "SERIES TRANSVERSUS"is series of paintings is inspired by both religious icon paintings (of the early Christian, Byzantine, and middle ages), and my love of modern painting concerns. The aesthetics and intentions of these icons ; interactions between two dimensional design/decoration, and stylized representational/narrative painting, the symbology, and, the devotion to God, in the act of painting, these artists practiced intrigues, delights, and resonates with me.


#17, 12"x12" oil on pane

PAINTED, ABSTRACTED, MUSINGS
on religious icons of the early, middle, and byzantine ages

trans-verse'  adjective
Etymology ; Latin - transversus, from trans- + -versus 

1 : acting, lying, or being across : set crosswise
2 : made at right angles to the anterior-posterior axis of the body [a transverse section]  -trans-verse-ly adverb

"SERIES TRANSVERSUS"
Not long after the birth of the Christian faith, pictorial representations of landmark events and personages, central in that faith, began being created for the spiritual enrichment of the communities of Jesus's followers. These visual creations; paintings, sculptures, mosaics; were mostly for the shared spaces in which those communities of believers met to worship and learn. They were intended as a lasting note of praise to God, a visual reminder of "things unseen", and a teaching tool in an age where books, and the ability to read them, were rare. Ideally, the artists and artisans creating them did so as an act of reverence, devotion, and prayer to their God.

  As time passed, in some regions, and within some of what we now call denominations, these pictorial representations became a codified symbolic pictorial language known as iconography. Colors, objects, persons, figures, shapes, and the placements of these elements, were symbolic of specific meanings within the spiritual and temporal narratives of the faith. Different traditions developed different symbolic "codes",but many of these traditions' "codes" have remained the same for hundreds of years.

  In this continuing series of paintings, I am intending to meld direct and indirect references from these icon-painting traditions, with the contemporary sense of my own painting. Although I don't strictly adhere to the "codes" or symbology in my paintings,I do borrow some of the symbolic use of colors, forms, and compositions from these traditions, and make use of them in my manner of painting.
   
I, like the icon painters of those ages, also create these works as acts of reverence, devotion, and prayers to God

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Last updated September 27, 2007