Deep In The Heart Of...
The Last Supper #4 (2004) "Deep in the Heart of..." is both affectionate and ironic in intent. It is painted in enamel, but in the manner of the comic strip, in thirteen separated panels of naugahyde (fake leather fabric). Toys have been left in each place at the table, instead of the traditional symbol of spiritual import, and highly decorated cowboy boots under the table are portraits, each one of them, of a distinctive character in the inner circle of George W. Bush's first administration. The focus of the work is decorated Western-style boots, draped in "togas" and in postures directly appropriated from the Sistine Chapel, the Elgin Marbles and Leonardo. The "process drawings" (studies) from which the large, final painted work was built are done in Sanguine in tan Reeve paper (11"x11") in the classical manner, before they are adapted into the comic-book style of the finished work, the composite "Last Supper: Deep in the Heart of..." A second stage of these studies is also available in black pastel on white Reeve paper, suitable for framing, 20"x30".
Although the colored tablecloth recalls the World War I ballet, The Green Table, this is not the portrait of a "war cabinet." (After all, two of the characters are just family; one of a European friend, and one a mere political advisor!) It is simply a portrait of the inner circle of the first Bush administration, imagining that band of disciples together for the last time as a group, before changing chairs of 205. Viewers may wish to identify the "character" they most admire - or love to hate.
