Walk 1984
Oil on surgical gauze, on oilboard ,1m x 1m.
A Talk given by Mike Nixon to painting class BVA Year 1
November 2011
This painting is as much about a state of mind as it is a place . if it is a place , it’s a point in time , or points in time , maybe from the late 1930’s to the 1980’s . Over that time, NZ changed , but not as much as the last 20 years. It is looking back perhaps, with some nostalgia , to simpler times, the formative years of some of our artists ,It references some of them .
The 14 panels refer to St Johns 14 stations of the Cross. a painting to walk by, a meditative journey. McCahon took a walk across Sydney in 1984, on his final trip overseas , but at that stage , he had Korsakoff's syndrome, a form of dementia, where you lose cognitive abilities, spatial abilities, and memory . Its common among heavy drinkers. He wandered for a day and a night , without knowing where he was, past the NSW Gallery, showing his Victory of Death 2 at the time , probably through Womooloo, where there is a homeless shelter, and ended up in Centennial Park, sleeping rough, where he was found unharmed , the early hours of the day following. Martin Edmonds , an expat NZ’er, living in Sydney, wrote a book recently Dark Night Walking with McCahon which put McCahon’s wanderings, in the framework of 14 Stations, but imagining what he may have seen, and talking about his life. There is two layers to this painting, which refer to the spiritual and physical planes, which in some philosophies, may be one and same. The lines inscribed may refer to weather patterns, contour lines on the map, or brain waves on a EEG machine . McCahon had great faith I believe, when he painted Peggys Hill in 1939, the starting point for my research . But towards the end of his life, that faith was lessened, as his alcoholism took hold. Some people believe that the only way to lessen the grip of alcoholism, and cure it, is to have a spiritual experience , his life was fruitful , but took its toll, art was his cross, not his redeemer. Another duality.
November 2011
This painting is as much about a state of mind as it is a place . if it is a place , it’s a point in time , or points in time , maybe from the late 1930’s to the 1980’s . Over that time, NZ changed , but not as much as the last 20 years. It is looking back perhaps, with some nostalgia , to simpler times, the formative years of some of our artists ,It references some of them .
The 14 panels refer to St Johns 14 stations of the Cross. a painting to walk by, a meditative journey. McCahon took a walk across Sydney in 1984, on his final trip overseas , but at that stage , he had Korsakoff's syndrome, a form of dementia, where you lose cognitive abilities, spatial abilities, and memory . Its common among heavy drinkers. He wandered for a day and a night , without knowing where he was, past the NSW Gallery, showing his Victory of Death 2 at the time , probably through Womooloo, where there is a homeless shelter, and ended up in Centennial Park, sleeping rough, where he was found unharmed , the early hours of the day following. Martin Edmonds , an expat NZ’er, living in Sydney, wrote a book recently Dark Night Walking with McCahon which put McCahon’s wanderings, in the framework of 14 Stations, but imagining what he may have seen, and talking about his life. There is two layers to this painting, which refer to the spiritual and physical planes, which in some philosophies, may be one and same. The lines inscribed may refer to weather patterns, contour lines on the map, or brain waves on a EEG machine . McCahon had great faith I believe, when he painted Peggys Hill in 1939, the starting point for my research . But towards the end of his life, that faith was lessened, as his alcoholism took hold. Some people believe that the only way to lessen the grip of alcoholism, and cure it, is to have a spiritual experience , his life was fruitful , but took its toll, art was his cross, not his redeemer. Another duality.
