The concept of this painting came from a 1200-year-old prayer which suggests who will live and who will die, and those that die before their time succumb to a litany of possible deaths. The prayer ultimately suggests that repentance, prayer, and charity will temper the severe decree. The prayer started to resonate with the artist when he faced his own mortality and thought, Who by Fire, Who by Water, and Who by Thoracic Aneurism.
Category: Painting
My Conversation with Watteau
Fenton has a conversation with Watteau while the characters carry on their own conversation. In fact, two conversations, one visual and the other verbal, take place. Watteau used his friends as models for the stock theatrical characters in the painting Commedia dell’Arte, as did Fenton.
Ezekiel’s Vision
A contemporary representation of Ezekiel’s vision, this painting reimagines the ancient prophetic imagery within a modern context. Ezekiel’s vision, as described in the Bible, includes a divine chariot composed of four living creatures, each with four faces and four wings, moving in perfect unison. Above them is a throne of sapphire with a figure like a man, radiating brilliance, symbolizing the glory of God.
Read Ezekiel’s Vision Ezekiel 37:1-14.
Larry and Carl
A fisherman holding his catch is a ubiquitous photographic image. Fenton chose to paint the subject to create something unique from the most banal of images. His use of metal leaf suggests something regal or religious . . . or possibly both. Using trompe l’oeil, Fenton paints taped negative photographs of fishermen as if he were painting from those negatives.
Lap Dance at Portobello’s
A slightly inebriated woman leaves her embarrassed husband to dance with a young wounded vet in a wheelchair at a Florida coastal restaurant, while the artist irritates another husband peeved that the artist is taking photographs of his wife.
Dayenu
The Passover Seder is the retelling of the story of the liberation of the Israelites from slavery in ancient Egypt. The Seder (the order) provided the inspiration for this painting.
Diana
A portrait of Fenton’s wife, Diana, soon after retiring from her position as a policy planner for New York State Children and Family Services.
After Goya: Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters
Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters: This painting requires a little history. In 1797, Goya began a series of prints, Capriccios, in which he was critical of Spanish culture, avarice, greed, and the political climate that fostered it. Goya believed reason was asleep, and Fenton believes we too are asleep. Many of us are so involved in our little worlds that we fail to see all the problems that are descending upon us en masse. We are not talking to our enemies while conducting war and producing still more enemies; we are giving our freewheeling, well-greased economic machine a blind eye and a blank check; our powerhouse auto industry is producing energy-inefficient cars that are increasingly unwanted; we are damaging our environment by ignoring global warming; and we are ignoring the needs of the medically uninsured, contributing to skyrocketing medical costs. All the while, North Korea is building and testing nuclear weapons, and Iran is doing the same and threatening Israel. In Fenton’s painting, most of the figures are self-absorbed in their own world, with the exception of the little girl (Fenton’s granddaughter Leila), who is peeping around the corner. The little girl is in the process of expanding her world, and her image suggests that hope is around the corner when the predator birds are descending. Her awareness is the inspiration for this painting and our hope around the corner as well.
Esau and Ishmael, Morning Evening
Traveling in Jordon Fenton stopped to view the fantastic desert landscape. Two Bedouin also stopped for a cigarette break. Fenton was drawn in by the timelessness of the scene. Except for cigarettes, wristwatch, and power lines in the background, this same scene could have been found centuries earlier.
Gilgulim -Night Sale
Fenton has always admired Rembrandt’s Night Watch but felt that the elegantly dressed soldiers were less militaristic than one would expect. Perhaps the well-dressed soldiers would feel more comfortable shopping at J.Crew than guarding the gates of Amsterdam. Gilgul transmigrates them into the busiest shopping days at J. Crew.