Sunday 24 July 2016

Example of How Peter Doig takes from Mass Media for elements of his Painting

While talking at the Slade in 2015-16 in their contemporary art lectures series one of the slides Peter Doig presents demonstrates how he can take from a range of media sources including local newspapers.

It shows a Trinidadian Bay and the reenactment of the arrival of Christopher Columbus. The background is dream like and Doig himself has said that the landscapes during this period of painting were Gauguin like, a painter who much relied on his memory to paint, and have dream like qualities. But mounted in this exaggerated scene is the boat from the cutting on the right. He has quite simply ripped it from the newspaper and then painted it into the image as the main feature.

Doig has obviously connected with this image and it was one that for him was strong enough to prompt it's inclusion in a painting. There can clearly be seen here some connections with these invaders, so to speak, with Doig's own experiences. He very much wondered how he would be perceived when he moved to Trinidad and this image might well be an exploration of these concepts, although he has often said that he was welcomed to the island, where as the photo shows an invader.

It also demonstrates the ease at which Doig approaches the sources for his paintings. He's not afraid to take what he needs from his own daily consumption of media. A newspaper cutting is very easily pulled into a major painting and the idea is given prominence if it's significance is judge as being important.

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