Lamentation at the Cave
Oil on canvas
122 x 137 cm
2020
Second lockdown painting, and third and final one in this series.
The photo shoot for this painting was in January 2019. So while the six figures shown were posed before the pandemic, the painting has added elements of our strange times.
I began this painting in May 2020. The UK had been in lockdown for two months. The people are huddled together in mourning, something that no one has been able to do during Covid-19. Many lives have been lost, and even more people denied the process of saying goodbye to their loved ones.
The Virgin Mary is absent from this version. Drag artist Virgin Extravaganza was present at the shoot but did not join this huddle as the bloody James would have ruined their outfit. However, as it was quarantine time, Virgin was in the USA doing drag shows from their high school parking lot. I have represented the shows on the iPhone, bottom right corner.
The cat is one of the studio cats who always wander into the photo shoots.
A few of the added details come from a facebook group called Zombie Nation Art Challenge. The random Toad Familiar, bottom left, is one of those. The empty bottle labeled “Djinn” (gin) is another.