Year: 2023
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 208.3 x 173.4 cm (82 x 63 1/4 in.)
Acquired from Blum and Poe, 2023
Lauren Quin’s work draws on prior art history at various levels—image, technique, and concept, all of which are layered onto the support to create paintings that the artist herself refers to as “models for visual indulgence.” This work is one of a series inspired by “Tityus” (1632), by the Spanish Baroque painter Jusepe de Ribera. The painting depicts the scene in which Tityus, a giant in Greek mythology, is having his liver perpetually eaten by two vultures as punishment for a transgression. Although the sight of this bird ferociously picking at a man is a terrifying one, there is no such explicit depiction in Quin’s work. Here, the eagle is sublimated to the meaning it symbolizes and becomes the inspiration for a series of images. Eagles and other birds of prey sometimes circle in groups, riding thermal updrafts, and a group flying this way, as if boiling up into the sky, is described as a “kettle” in English. Quin’s characteristic way of painting with swirling “tubes” is associated with the “kettle”. The term “Hammerhead” refers to the end of a hammer, but also to a variety of sharks, due to its shape. Unusually for sharks, hammerhead sharks are known for swimming in large groups, and it may be that Quin sees some overlap with the “kettle.” Furthermore, colors in this painting, a spectrum of strong, fiery reds, and hues with a metallic quality appear to give off light, recalling the fire that Prometheus stole for humanity from the heavens. Indeed, for this crime, Prometheus underwent the same punishment as Tityus. It is this overflowing association of imagery that makes Quin’s work so rich, creating a fertile visual narrative
