Ian Kirkpatrick - Mountain of the Immortals

4.2 x 2.2 meters meters

Hand painted layered over 7 canvases

2024

Artist Philip Guston once said: "The war, what was happening to America, the brutality of the world.

What kind of man am I, sitting at home, reading magazines, going into frustrated fury about everything-and then going into my studio to adjust a red to a blue?" ...after which he began painting

more socially-conscious artworks. Unfortunately, these new artworks were poorly received by the art world - and Guston only received recognition for them after his death, after which he joined the ranks of other "immortal" artists such as Picasso, Keith Haring, Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat.

This piece compares Philip Guston's journey with that of the Lady of Shalott, who lives in a tower and gazes at the world via a reflection in a mirror, before finally abandoning it to experience the 'real world' outside - with tragic