The English artist had painted a picture: a haunting powerful image – brilliant, disturbing and charged with emotion. It was hanging in Bologna’s ‘The Artist’s Space.’ It struck me as a telling metaphor for England; that is, England now: an England pushed to the margins; under pressure; suffering … almost as if subject to abuse.
Divided and adrift. And it’s the deep divisions that continue to matter. Resentment, fractured … something is lost …
Pushing itself to the margins …
And the painting seems to ask: Can’t we do better than this? Can’t we?
[The artist who painted this untitled work is the sometimes enigmatic and always supremely gifted Ian Woodard. At least for the moment, he has abandoned England – for the delights of the Italian city and more, including Sicily. Perhaps Tuscany, too … ]
The photograph above shows a beautiful space in the Municipal Art Collection, located in the Palazzo Comunale, Bologna, Italy – along with two paintings ‘in the English style.’
Go Ask Alice 