The tragic demise of Shakespearian heroine, Ophelia, has been represented throughout centuries of art.  She has often been depicted in her cold and watery grave, the brook where Ophelia was found after Hamlet murdered her father, Polonius.  Dick raises Ophelia from her grave and invites the viewer to wonder what transformation she has undergone.  In her resurrection, Ophelia challenges the perception of feminine frailty and timidity that she embodied in Shakespeare’s play.  Dick frees her from the torments of Hamlet’s affection and psychosis.  Ophelia has metamorphized in her triumph over death and anguish.

Regarding Desire, Dick comments:

    “My self-appointed muse Paz was about to return to Argentina after some time in London and Paris and was deeply unhappy. On pressing her to feel positive she declared she would be reunited with her beloved horses. As she is short in height I was struck by the contrast.
 
Some weeks later while cleaning my paintbrushes I had the idea for a painting of her with a horse.
The question that now arose was how would it be? On the horse, leading the horse? No.

Then I remembered a dream from one of Karl Jung's female patients where she described being in a room with a horse.

The scene being at nighttime troubled me, as I did not want to load my image with excess negative overtones.
 
I have a friend who owns a large white apartment and another who has a large dark studio. I went to the local stables where I photographed a white horse and a brown horse with the aim of keeping my options open, or even making two paintings.

In the event the white apartment was not available so I settled for the luminous gloom of my friends studio.

I did not instruct Paz what to wear for the work and when she arrived I noted she wore a blue blouse with small white polka dots and a rose pattern. A tiny pearl crucifix and a yellow string tied round her one of her wrists.  On asking what it was, she told me it's a Brazilian charm. When the string eventually rots you can make a wish.
 
I had several thoughts while making the painting. The dominant one was I was the horse.

There are many paintings of the artist with his model, and Picasso often depicted himself as a bull. There was definitely this feeling. Something akin to Titiana and Bottom.  Or more extreme, but equally viable, Diana and Achteon. Certainly some kind of magical transformation had taken place.  So I called the painting "Desire". Probably because I remembered a text by the American theologian Sebastian Moore where he made a metaphor of desire being a horse and fear had become the rider. My horse has no rider, and he is fine. The young woman on the chair though, although displaying no fear of the horse, is clearly concerned about something. But Titiana too was under a spell, so indeed the whole thing might just be a dream.

Aurora
21" x 14"
Oil on paper
Price upon request







Pining Winds
14" x 23"
Oil and encaustic on paper
Price upon request
sold






Nautical Flight
12" x 18"
Oil on paper
Price upon request





The Pink Balloon
18" x 12"
Traditional Japanese pigment on paper
Price upon request

Biography

Alan Graham Dick is a 21st century realist artist. Born in Scotland, he moved to London to complete his Masters Degree in painting at the Chelsea College of Art (1978).  Dick's paintings are informed by a wide range of sources that reference literature, art history, contemporary politics as well as his personal life experiences and inspirational people.

As a young and ambitious painter in the early 1980s Dick was eager to immerse himself in the New York contemporary art scene, the birthplace of several of the century's most innovative artistic movements. During this visit he came into contact with many cultural and social luminaries, among them were Betty Parsons, Jasper Johns and Annalee Newman.  In England, Dick was famed for his portrayal of the post-punk music scene. These included paintings of New Order, Paul Weller, Siouxsie and Banshees, the Cocteau Twins and others.  Dick's early visit to New York exposed him to and informed him of the forces behind Abstract Expressionism, Pop and Minimalist art, all of which contribute to his current ouevre.

Also deeply interested in non-western traditions, Dick has studied Japanese language and culture from 1987 and has spent much time in Tokyo gathering inspiration and exhibiting his own work.   He conceived and participated in “Bridges,” a group exhibition programmed and supported by the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation of British and Japanese artists that toured Europe and Japan from 1996 until 1998.

He was recognized for his “dedication to the promotion of Anglo-Japanese relations” by the Japanese Ambassador, who invited him to meet Their Majesties the Emperor and Empress of Japan, on their state visit to London in 1998.

One of his Japanese masterpieces can be seen at the Reading Museum, Pennsylvania and two reside in the collection of the BBC in London. In 2001, he participated at a major conference on Japanese Contemporary Art at the Tate Gallery, London.

Since the mid ‘90s Alan divides his time between Europe, America and Japan, and has paintings in private collections in three continents. His work, which is modern realism, crosses pop and urban lines and reflects his multicultural influences, from the mass media to the inner private world of the self. Alan’s work is intensely honest with integrity that we don’t often see in modern realism.

Alan signs his painting on the back and when asked “Why?” he said: “I am signing an illusion and I will destroy the illusion if I sign it on the front”.

“Rather than splashing us with the immediacy of a moment, Dick immerses us in a sea of change – one that often has to do with identities and relationships. From deep in these paintings comes an awareness of slow but significant shifts – like the erosion of something, or like its growth.”
(Monty Dipietro, The Japan Times.)




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